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( 




IDOLS DETHRONED 

/ 

— AND — 


Dominion Over the Animal Kingdom 


— BY 


FLORA PARRIS HOWARD. 



LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. 







2B768 


Copyright, 1897, 

By Flora Parris Howard. 



F. Blech & Co., Printers, 
144 South Broadway, 
Los Angeles, California. 



“Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. 

“Thou shalt not make thee any graven 
image, or any likeness of any thing that is in 
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, 
or that is in the waters under the earth ; 

“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, 
nor serve them.” 










PREFACE. 


“ Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this 
“ planet. Then all things are at a risk. It is as when a con- 
“ flagration has broken out in a great city, and no man knows 
“ what is safe and where it will end. * * * 

“ * Valor consists in the power of self-recovery, so that 

a man cannot have his flank turned, cannot be out-generaled, 
“ hut put him where you will, he stands. This can only be 
“ by preferring truth to his past apprehension of truth, and 
“his alert acceptance of it from whatever quarter.”—Emerson. 


In writing this book as I have been led to do, I have 
tried to make it practical in everyday life, and have given 
experiences solely for the benefit of the readers to help 
them in their ongoing. Truth cannot be placed so high 
but everyone can reach it ; for man has no rival. The 
heights that he wants to attain are only measured by his 
acts. Works (fruits), not words, alone tell. Should I 
make it so plain “ that he who runs may read/’ and start 
the reader on the journey that he must take when he sees 
it for himself, I am satisfied. 

I know full well that the soul speaks in the lines and 
between the lines to some ; to others, nothing is found. 
That which one speaks from his soul life as he sees it, to 
some must sound vain and hollow—empty indeed. They 
do not dwell on the same plane of thought. I speak only 




PREFACE. 


VI 


as I see, as I have proved it. May the same power that 
guided my pen to write, guide the reader into the knowl¬ 
edge of his own divinity. If it does, my work is truly 
blessed. A practical application of these pages is the 
only way to prove my words true—by placing yourself 
within the flowing stream of wisdom, love and truth, 
where it can permeate every part of your being, will bring 
you peace and you will find yourself. Then you will know 
your own worth. In writing this book I presume to sit 
in judgment on no one; only to state the truth as I see it 
from my own standpoint, striving to be an independent 
thinker, the truth alone must be perceived. 


FLORA P. HOWARD. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter. Page. 

1. Idols. 9 

2. Dominion Over the Animal Kingdom. 15 

3. Stepping Stones. 22 

4. Life As We Make It. 27 

5. Health. 32 

6. The Power of the Silent Word. 38 

7. Self Training. 42 

8. Faith. 46 

9. Persistency. 50 

10. Demanding. 55 

11. Self Reliance. 59 

12. Judge Not According to Appearances. 63 

13. Desire. 67 

14. Will Power. 71 

15. Charity. 76 

16. Freedom. 82 

17. Riches vs. Poverty. 87 

18. Anxiety and Worriment. 92 

19. “All Is Free” and “All Is Good ”. 96 

20. Rest. 102 

21. Love Is the Fulfilling of the Law. 107 

22. The Sex Question. 112 































Idols Dethroned. 


CHAPTER i. 

IDOLS. 

“My mind to me, a kingdom is.” 

Any one who has investigated thought, and is now liv¬ 
ing by the power of the spoken word, must see that all 
idols of our own making, and all those we have inherited 
for ages, must be dethroned one by one. The law of 
heredity, which holds man in its grasp, can be overcome 
by the w^ord of truth. All things are our subjects, and 
must be ruled by the I Am. The God part of our being 
must sit enthroned. Selfishness, anger, malice, lust, tem¬ 
per, hatred, unforgiveness and a host of others must be 
dethroned and deprived of their power. These subjects 
have sat on our throne too long, and have ruled us with 
a rod of iron. Now we must rule and be the Kings and 
Queens of our own domain, which is our rightful herit¬ 
age. Now, how are we going to rule our kingdom, which 
we have let run riot by being turned over to the enemy 
so many long years? Let us see, for it is so much easier 
to talk than to do. Now it is time to do more and talk 
less. Do not spill your words all over the country, for 
everyone knows there are counter-currents that will often 
snare us unless we are watchful. 

Truly silence is golden! All things grow in silence, 
from the largest oak to the tiniest flower—a lesson for all. 



10 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


The action of the soul is stillness. Real action is silence, 
though the body may be at work. Get still inside. 

“ Our enemies are those of our own household.” / Then 
w r e are acquainted with them, know them better than any¬ 
one else does. Then begin at home to work. 

Let us take anger. It is a good subject, but a terrible K 
master. Now the I Am is King, and we will say to it, 
You are a great power when not perverted; therefore 
you must be turned into the right channel. I will hold 
you in obedience to my true loyal selfhood, the Christ, 
—even the winds and waves obey my voice. You are all 
peace and harmony, and nothing can move my peace. 
You must bring peace to my household and help me 
rule. 

Patience is another powerful ally w T hen held by th(b 
strong reins of will. I will be patience, I will be peace. 

I will be harmony. I am all these now, for I am patient, 
loving and kind, and the mental power we set in motion 
will work for us, instead of against us. If we have been 
overcome or tempted today, we will not be tomorrow. 

We will live higher by having higher ideals, and let it 
be a higher ideal every day, up and up. Get into the 
secret place of the Most High within your own soul, and 
let the truth sink deep into the spiritual part of your 
nature, if you would derive spiritual gifts and receive 
that light that lighteth every one that accepts it. For 
this truth cannot be got theoretically or intellectually, 
and is the only Good Samaritan that will take us to the 
Inn of Perfect Understanding, where we must abide till 
we are healed of all error. All the rest will pass by on 
the other side. 

Impatience must be dethroned, and patience must take 
its place. We have spent our forces in riotus living, and 


IDOLS. 


11 


it has brought sickness and death to our household. And 
here you must use your will power, which is the 
power of God. I will have health; then I have health 
this moment while I am speaking; I will it. For the 
same power that helps you to demonstrate in one line 
will help you in all lines. This proves it a science. 

There is no failure in the science of life, but we must 
fulfill all conditions-. We will not get the perfect light in 
fulfilling one or two, but will reap what we sow; and if 
we sow seeds of discord we will find them fruited 
later on. 

“The thorns that I have reaped are of the tree I planted. 
They have torn me, and I bleed. I should have known 
what fruit would spring from such a seed.” 

The picture of the artist is in mind ere it is placed on 
canvas. Let your picture in mind be health, be patience, 
be love, be opulence. Think them, say them, act them. 
The three agree in one. 

Say it is mine now because of my divine birthright.— 
I will learn the law of life. All thoughts are registered 
on the body. Think right if you would be free. 
Every day climb higher, grow. Your highest thought 
to-day is lost in the vast realm of truth that lies beyond 
you. You are being renewed from within, and the renew¬ 
ing of your life is growing deeper aud stronger. Upward 
we climb in the mental. 

The mountain top must be reached, no matter how 
many times we fall in reaching it. The fall is not counted. 
It does not register. The picking up and going on counts 
in this life. Speak the word, for all things are yours. “For 
ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will 
of God ye might receive the promise.” 

No one ever got angry without what he considered a 


12 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


just cause. He thinks he was justified in doing what he 
did do. “ Anyone would have got mad about it. He 
would have been a fool if he had not.” Now this is just 
as he sees it, not as the truth is. Sometimes it is wise to 
be called foolish and keep silent. 

Christ put anger and murder as one, just as He put sin 
and sickness one when he said to the paralytic, “ Son, thy 
sins be forgiven thee.” If he had not been a sinner he 
would not have been a paralytic. “ He that is angry with 
his brother is in danger of hell-fire.” What is hell-fire? 
Burning in hell after you die? Not a bit of it. Hell-fire 
means to some of you rheumatism, your bodies doubled 
up and drawn out of shape with pain and suffering. 
“ The temple of the living God, which temple ye are,” de¬ 
formed by your own impure thoughts. 

To another it will take the form of a cancer, and eat 
out his vitals. To another, consumption ; and so on in¬ 
definitely ; and it is truly hell-fire till you get free. 

Angry thoughts are sure enough deadly. The worst 
case of grippe I ever witnessed was caused by getting 
“ real mad.” She came near passing out of the body, and 
would have done so but for the speaking of truth. When 
she got able to speak she said, “ I don’t see the mean¬ 
ing of this. I never took a bit of cold, and I believe in 
this truth, too.” 

I said to her, “ You have been terribly angry with some 
one. It is no cold, and your believing in this truth will 
not help you. It is living this truth that helps.” 

She admitted it, and told the circumstance. 

Another had lost her voice and had not spoken aloud 
for a year and a half. What was the matter? Nothing 
but temper. I treated her for forgiveness and love. 

The time is not far distant when we will be positively 


IDOLS. 


13 


ashamed to be sick for we shall know that other people 
read our thoughts. It is said our thoughts are not hid¬ 
den from God, and neither are they hidden from any one 
who knows and lives this truth. Your thoughts can be 
read when you are seen. 

Thoughts affect us differently because we are infinite 
expressions. We have face and form alike, but we are 
not alike. 

One says, “If it were not for fear I could get along so 
nicely.” That is his devil. Another says, “If I could 
stop the worry and anxiety that bother me so!” Another 
says, “It is just my quick temper. If I could only get 
over that!” And so on. 

These are all devils, that everyone has to contend with, 
and you will find that you have more than the Christ cast 
out in the Magdalene. Your secret thoughts, the thoughts 
and intents of the heart are very black sometimes ; and a 
raven returns to you in the form of a disease of some 
kind. These devils or evils are within. Clean out the in¬ 
side if you expect to be clean on the outside. If you want 
the good to reign within you, make a place for it. These 
unruly subjects must be put out, dethroned, and the right 
ruler take the place and rule. When there is “ no room 
in the inn ” for these things, or for sickness, no disease 
can touch you. 

“ Let there be light.” I deny that anger has any power 
over me. 1 am the ruler. Just repeat this verse when 
you feel anger: 

It doesn’t pay to do much talking when you’re mad enough to 
choke, 

Because the word that stings the deepest is the one that’s never 
spoke! 

Let the other fellow wrangle till the storm has blown away; 

Then he’ll do a heap of thinking ’bout the things you didn’t say.” 


14 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


I tell you, you will conquer, and the “ Father that 
seeth (ruleth) in secret shall reward thee openly 

This all must be done in secret, in the silence of your 
own soul. Take all these subjects that have ruled so long, 
tell them they are good, peaceful, loving and true. Tell 
lust it cannot master you, now that you know yourself. 
This is also perverted power, but when turned upward it 
too becomes a mighty force for the uplifting of yourself. 
Let all these subjects be taught wisdom, and man stands 
to-day a mighty monarch instead of a slave to them. 

Truth is a separator, and if you have once started to 
find it, all things that have been your idols, all falsity 
will drop away. The truth becomes a disciplinarian and 
you see yourself and the world in a new light, th'e light 
of truth. 

Separation will go on till you are freed from your old 
self. Your new life becomes a self-examination unfold¬ 
ing of your real self. You become individualized. 


CHAPTER H. 


DOMINION OVER THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 

“Let us make man in our image after our likeness! And let 
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the 
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, 
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” 


True dominion means wisdom. It means unde? stand¬ 
ing, yea, it means power over all within and all things /! 
without. First, within,—here lies the whole secret. Mari 
is the maker and ruler over his own kingdom, his own 
world, his own body. If he rules intelligently, he is 
monarch of all. If, on the contrary, he rules ignorantly, 
he becomes a slave to all. 

Now it behooves us as seekers after wisdom, truth, to 
find what truth is and prove it by living it, (the only way 
to prove anything in this life.) If you have but one tal¬ 
ent to use, use it; it will grow after its kind, and using 
brings power, brings dominion here and now. 

Be careful of your thought, what kind it is, for if it is 
the right kind it means growth of the soul, the highest 
power of man. If, the wrong kind, it means degenera¬ 
tion of the soul and body both. 

True thinking causes soul growth. The change of 
thought does not take place in a moment; for we weigh 
and measure and reason within ourselves. Are these 
things so? Is this the truth? What is the truth? And I 
tell you we have taken a step in advance when we halt 
and ask it, too. 


16 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


The truth shall make you free. Listen, are you free? 
If not, then you are in bondage. Freedom and bondage 
are opposites. So are intelligence and ignorance. One 
does not know the other. Intelligence has no thought 
of ignorance. Freedom takes no thought of bondage. 
Every one is after truth, freedom, satisfaction, whether 
he knows it or not. He may be working in an absurd 
way, nevertheless he is searching for truth. There is a 
way easier than to go over all the roads which cause you 
sorrow and misery, till you get to the right one. Take 
the right one at first. Start with the cause and the effect 
will be different. The cause is your thought. Are you 
not tired of your old thought? Don’t you want to get 
out of the old beaten track? Have you not had the fruit 
of your own thought in all its stages of growth, sickness, 
sorrow, disappointment, all of these and much more, till 
you have declared life a farce, not worth living? Here 
you made your mistake. Life is worth living and living 
well. Change your thought. It is simple enough, and 
you will have the fruit from the tree of intelligence, un¬ 
derstand^ g,—wisdom. 

You, yourself, are your own law-maker and law-breaker. 
So instead of holding thoughts of sickness, poverty, dis¬ 
couragement that bring all these to you—for you know 
each thing creates its kind—hold thoughts of plenty, 
health, success, and attract all these to you by the law of 
attraction. You need not blame your grandparents, that 
you inherited anything, you did not inherit anything 
only in so far as your thought goes. 

Change your thought and work out your own salva¬ 
tion. Don’t follow the fashion and “ catch cold.” Catch 
health. It is just as easy. Don’t catch poverty. Catch 
riches.. Practice till you can “catch” what you want. 


DOMINION OVER THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 


17 


Practice catching all your good, just the same as you would 
practice music, law or anything in which you want to 
excel. 

Perfection is the standard. Set the standard there, 
and never lower it. We need more health teachers, minus 
doctors ; more teachers of mastery, and less of submis¬ 
sion to circumstances. Make your own environment. You 
can if you will. I Can and I Will have freed us. I 
Can’t has bound us. The former has removed mountains* 
the latter has made them. We are slaves, when we should ( 
be crowned heads, not of Europe, but of ourselves. Our 
dominion is over ourselves. The moment we have 
that, we have the master}' over all things. 

Man has dominion over the animal kingdom, whatever 
or wherever they may be, or he may be. Do we, divine 
beings, have to submit to insects of any kind in our homes, 
crawling over our bodies, ruining our fruits, annoying us 
in every way? Not so, they will obey us when we speak 
in love. They are intelligent and respond to the silent 
spoken word to go. We have no right to destroy a 
life we cannot give because it annoys us. Master them 
instead of letting them master you. 

The writer of this article has proved it many, many 
times. It is for every one to prove. 

Not only animals have intelligence. Everything on the 
planet has it—trees, flowers, stones, everything has it to a 
greater or less degree, and will respond to your thought, 
whether good or bad. You have the naming of all things, 
and they are to you as you name them. Speak intelli¬ 
gently and speak good to everything. 

Again, all things will respond to your thought, be it fire 
in the stove, or a machine of any kind. Tell the fire to 
burn up quickly. It will do it. Tell your machine it is 


18 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


good and useful and does its work well, and it will do it. 
Tell your food it is good and will not hurt you, that it v 
nourishes and strengthens you. It will. 

Praise and bless all things. Good will come back to 
you, the same thought you sent out. Do not name this 
good, and that bad for you. Eat everything and do every¬ 
thing in a spirit of thankfulness. It will be unto you as 
you say. 

All insects will go from your body, your house and your 
farm, if you bid them go and do it in love. All law must 
be fulfilled, and love is the fulfillment. If you hate them 
they will hate back, and sting or bite you if they can. 
Love them; do not want to kill them, and they will let 
you alone. By loving them I do not mean you need to 
have pests on your bodies, in your homes or on your farms. 
They will go to their own homes. Say to them, “ You 
have no right on my body, or in my home; no right to 
destroy my fruit. God gave you homes. You are not 
my bidden guests. I will have nothing about me I do 
not want. Go to your homes in the name of Christ 
(truth.) I Am has spoken. I have dominion. God 
gave me dominion over all things, and I will be obeyed. 

I will not be annoyed by any insect. It shall not destroy 
anything of mine. Go in peace. I love you because the 
life of you is the life of God, but you cannot annoy me, 
or eat my fruit.” 

Demand at once to be relieved from these annoyances. 
Every animal on your farm will respond to a true 
thought. Speak in love, and the meanest thing on earth 
that has been the most disagreeable to you, and that you 
have hated, will respond to it. 

Having been asked several times to put insects from 
houses, I have found that the spoken word has never 


DOMINION OVER THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 19 

failed to do it. I have been asked to put worms from ber¬ 
ries that were ready for market on Saturday night. On 
Sunday morning there was not a worm to be found on the 
berries or in the field. 

Use the power that belongs to you in speaking the word. 
It is within you and for you. It does not stop at healing 
the body, but makes you free indeed from all troubles. 
When we speak we want our words to fruit. One exper¬ 
ience, one proof of your power is more and does more 
good than all of your fine-spun theories. A practical 
demonstration is what each one needs—not that it can be 
done, but that it is done. You may speak once or many 
times before you are freed from the power that the whole 
insect world has had over you; also the power of poverty 
and sickness. Speak on, and hold on, till you get it. 

I made up my mind if I ever wrote an article or book, 
to make a practical application of the power that is mine 
here and now. I have aimed to do so, and if I have awak¬ 
ened any one who reads these lines into the knowledge of 
what he or she possesses, God be praised. 

Every question you ask outwardly must be answered 
inwardly at last. So you will in time answer your own 
questions from within ; for your teacher is there, and 
only those who are hungry and thirsty after truth will be 
filled. The rest do not want it. u They are joined to 
their idols ; let them alone.” Many of us are, and do not 
know it. 

We are dethroning ours and finding the true ruler. 

Speak to your land, that it shall bring forth abund¬ 
antly; and that your crops shall increase ; that no plague 
shall come nigh you. 

Stand forth as gods, not as weaklings, if you would 
have the mastery. All power is given to you if you will 


20 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


accept it and use it. If you do not, who is to blame but 
yourself ? The world has gone about to the end of the 
line in the old way of thinking. It has been led into so 
many by-paths that have only proved a failure, that to¬ 
day no one will believe anything he cannot prove. And 
this is the way to find out the truth for yourself. Silently 
demand at once the light of understanding, and do not 
admit a wrong thought. True thoughts are mental med¬ 
icine to soul and body. They give vigor and power to 
every organ. 

Right thinking is a creative force, more potent because 
it is invisible. Elmer Gates has proven that he can tell 
what one’s thoughts are by their perspiration. Is it not 
high time to watch our thought ? Persistency in seeking 
after truth, working the law, will bring to you the power 
you little dreamed you possessed, and that all the power 
that you can draw to you, or use, is yours. Only be 
patient with yourself as you are stepping over into the new 
line of thought and making new paths for your feet. Be 
earnest and be practical, for if we cannot use this truth 
practically for everything, we do not want it at all, for it 
is not a science. 

Now, prove this, and see if it will not help you pay 
your debts, and turn poverty and disease into a myth. 

Self-knowledge, self-development, is what we want, and 
brings unlimited possibilities of self-culture true concen¬ 
tration, true dominion over the within and the without. 
Truth has a scientific basis. 

A woman who had sprained her ankle and broken the 
ligaments rose to her feet, saying, “ God, I have dominion 
now, right now.” She walked through a long hall in a 
a hotel, up a long flight of stairs. All know that going 
up stairs and bearing full weight on such a foot would be 


DOMINION OVER THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 


21 


an impossibility unless the idol, accident, was first de¬ 
throned. She got to her room where she could be alone. 
She stretched out her arms, saying, “ Now my foot is per¬ 
fect ; now my ankle is healed/' She never was laid up 
one hour with that ankle. No bandage or anything else 
was applied, though previous to her knowing the truth 
she had worn a bandage on that same ankle for thirteen 
months. 

There is a vast difference between dominion and true 
dominion, the former you rule by sheer force of will, by 
might, by power, by strength; the latter you rule by love 
alone, that does not know they are being ruled, but led. 
The former you step down from your true standing and 
are on the same level with the ones you rule, only brute 
force. In the latter you step up on to a higher platform 
and bring them up with you, conquering by love. Love 
worketh no ill to his neighbor, neither to an animal, and 
we will treat everyone, and everything, as we would like 
to be treated. This is true dominion and he that ruleth 
any other way is no ruler. He that says, “I’ll make him 
do it,” would do well to find the true ruler of his own 
universe—find himself—then he would be willing to give 
the same freedom to another he had claimed for himself. 
Dethrone this brute power and enthrone divine love. 


CHAPTER III. 

STEPPING STONES. 

“ I held it truth, with him who sings 
To one clear harp in divers tones. 

That men may rise on stepping-stones 
Of their dead selves to higher things.” 

—Tennyson. 

There are many stepping stones in truth toward the 
light of perfect understanding, not only of God, but of 
ourselves ; for when we understand one, we do the 
other. Man has slipped and missed his footing, and gone 
down on these stones and lost himself in the stream of 
error. Every time he has picked himself up, he has made 
firmer footing for his feet. 

Man’s steps from the Adam consciousness to the Christ 
consciousness have been many and varied. He has made 
many by-paths, but he must return to the paths of wis¬ 
dom ere the light bursts upon his darkened mind. When 
he once understands truth, he will find that there is no 
mysticism in God or in life; that there are no miracles 
—there never were, never could be—just simply natural 
laws, worked according to the understanding of the 
worker. Law could not change for anyone. Law is law. 
Our working of that law may be as varied as the workers, 
and this is the reason we do not get results. The sun 
does not stop shining because some one prays that it will 
stop. It may stop shining in his consciousness, or he may 
go into a dark place and not see it. But still the sun 
shines on. 

Intelligence has the ascendancy today, and it shows 
ignorance in any one to deride any thought that may be 


STEPPING STONES. 


23 


brought forth in this advanced age. Ignorance of the 
law excuses no one. All can learn. 

If one learns the laws of life and profits by it, and you 
do not, blame no one but yourself, who, “ having eyes, 
see ye not, and ears, hear ye not.” We gain just in 
proportion to our work. If one tries to learn anything 
in a half-hearted way, he gets the full benefit of his half¬ 
heartedness ; but if another goes to work with the de¬ 
termination of winning, he wins, for all of the forces 
within, combined with the forces without, are in his 
favor. 

Go to work in dead earnest not to be beaten by any 
obstacles in life. Put them out. There are no limita¬ 
tions unless we make them. No man can limit us. Do 
not limit yourself. We have thought limitations forages. 
Is it a wonder that we are hampered on all sides? Then 
dissolve them by the power of intelligence. You formed 
them in ignorance. Prove the law. 

We get the result of what we work for, and how good we 
feel when we have done a kind act and helped some one 
to their feet. Surely, “ I come quickly, and my reward is 
with me.” 

We get in proportion as we give. Give forth ; tell what 
you know to some one else who does not know it. “Sow 
beside all waters.” You have nothing to do with the 
fruitage. All we are commanded to do is to sow. And 
indeed we need no command, for we love to do so. 

We have an endless storehouse of knowledge. It is 
richer than all the mines of Alaska. Why? Because it 
contains everything we want, and you can never find a 
mine outside of yourself that does. Dig deep. 

Where “ much is given, much is required,” and with 
w T hat vigor you work, will it manifest itself to your 


24 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


power of unfoldment. You cannot be put down unless 
you put yourself down. No one can stop your thinking, 
be it right or wrong; and you gather your own fruit, too, 
whatever kind it is. 

Deal with yourself and be honest. Pope says “An 
honest man’s, the noblest work of God.” If you are hon¬ 
est with yourself, you will be with everyone you meet. I 
do not mean honest in the mere matter of money, but 
honest and truthful in thought, wanting to get at the truth, 
and what you can accomplish by knowing and living it; 
not alone what you can gain, but what you can give. You 
get in your life what you reach for in thought. If a little 
satisfies you, you get your little. If nothing will satisfy 
you but the greatest, you will get the greatest. 

Life is no idle fancy, but health in its fulness—every 
organ alive and working for your good. You are work¬ 
ing in an invisible realm, with the dynamo force of your 
mental powers. You are the judge. Do not cast your¬ 
self into prison. It is harder work to get out than it 
is to keep out. The result of a diseased thought is dis¬ 
ease and death ; the result of a health thought is health 
in its completeness. Who does not want to be a live man, 
a live woman, these days, in this age? Let us open our 
understanding and see things clearly. Not have them star¬ 
ing us in the face unseen. The growth of our lives is our 
own individual work, and when analyzed for yourself do 
you want another to do it for you? Work out your own 
salvation, not with fear and trembling, but with a 
positive knowledge of the God-given powers within you, 
let each find his own, and control those powers. Use 
them with an upward thought ; not that I am sick, but I 
Am health; not that I am poor, but that I Am rich ; not 
that I am governed, but that I Am ruler. The real I Am 


STEPPING STONES. 


25 


is the one that says I Am Master and will bring all 
thoughts under subjection to the rightful ruler ofmy king¬ 
dom. No one can work the works of Christ in a-half-done 
way. It must be the working of a strong, powerful, earnest 
mind, who realizes, I am sent; I must render my account. 
Let it be “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. 
Thou hast been faithful over a few things ; I will make 
thee a ruler over many.” Your God within speaks. Hear 
ye Him. There are stepping stones to us in our daily 
lives, all along our pathway. Perhaps you have put your 
foot on a stone that looked beautiful and you thought it 
was as solid as a rock, but it went out from under you. 
It was in the form of friends you knew, they were faith¬ 
ful and true, and you trusted them as you did jour own 
soul, but they slipped out from under you ; but it does not 
matter so you do not slip or fall from your high estate, 
or lower your standard, because friends have failed you. 
Let me tell you, they will fail you every time till you rely 
wholly on yourself. 

Your true friends are where your enemies are, within ; 
and the only ones you will find. Be true to yourself, and 
everything false will fall away. You need not even do as 
Paul did—“ put them away.” They will go of them¬ 
selves. I would not look for enemies, neither would I 
look for friends. If you have any, they will gravitate to 
you ; for your own comes to you wherever you are. 

True friendship is deep and rare. You may probe or 
sound it, you will never touch bottom. The depths have 
not been reached. 

Emerson says (truthfully, too,) “ I do with my friends 
as I do with my books. I would have them where I can 
find them, but I seldom use them.” Don’t use them, not 
even seldom. What you cannot do for yourself, and what 


26 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


God cannot do for you, no one else can; and if you have 
said God is all the power there is, stick to it, and do not 
when trouble comes turn around and ask help from some 
one else. You go back on your own words. Be true to 
yourself, is where your true friend comes in. If the u con¬ 
dition which high friendship demands is ability to do 
without it,” see how much ability you have got. Now is 
a good time to measure yourself and see where you stand 
—on the feet of someone else or on your own. 

You are to make your ability, your capacity ; and when 
everybody and everything has slipped from under you, 
just take this truth and profit by it: “ We must not be 
surprised if many friends and things we have held dear 
become estranged from us when our vibrations have been 
keyed to a higher thought. It could scarcely be other¬ 
wise.” It means growth is pronounced. True growth of 
the soul is the foundation of a true life, you are building 
a true character, that tells. You are building better than 
you know. 


CHAPTER IV. 

LIFE AS WE MAKE IT. 

“ Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a 
man soweth, that shall he also reap.” 

Before the light of truth (Christ) has risen within our 
souls we sin ignorantly in thought: word and act follow. 
But after the light has come we have no excuse (cloak) 
for it. If we understood what life is and how much it 
means to each—that we do not measure it by just what 
we gain but by what we give to humanity to help them 
in their ongoing. 

Life means a constant service to the w^orld and to make 
it better by our living, and it is calling to-day for great 
souls, for noble men and women who do not want to force 
their convictions on anyone; desiring simply to lead them 
to the truth, not caring what they may afterwards denom¬ 
inate themselves; knowing that truth rests not in creeds, 
rituals or names, but in the broad, tender, all-embracing 
spirit of love; looking on the whole divine race as one 
sacred brotherhood, of which no single one can claim 
superiority over another. 

Life then becomes a success, and success is yourself 
transmuted into what you seek for and gain. Be strong 
men and women, no weaklings, but giants in the cause of 
truth. The great ocean of life is before you; get away 
from the shore, strike out beyond the breakers into 
the great deep of your souls. Live there , it is calm and 
peaceful. Then you will not be moved by anything; you 
are centered. You will cease searching for you have found 
truth. Where? Within. If you ask a question the an- 


28 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


swer is there too. Do not force an answer ; wait patiently 
till it matures, as a seed ripens. You are not always 
ready for the answer, and many times would not know or 
hear it. You will get the true one, because it will force 
itself into your perception, following the demand for it, 
which is true wisdom born of understanding. 

We must work in our own spheres no matter where 
they are. We are placed where we can do the most good. 
If you are laboring under disadvantages, work the 
harder; aim high and be what you aim to be. Lives are 
made up of failures and victories. As fast as we overcome, 
there is another problem staring us in the face to be 
worked out, for our hopes, our aspirations are so varied 
that we are not satisfied. Our gain to-day will not satisfy 
us to-morrow ; the more we know the more we want to 
know. 

We are all pupils in the great school of life. None 
have graduated. All are trying to pass their examina¬ 
tions to go up higher; and if we in our eagerness jostle 
one another in the conflict, stand ; it is easy enough 
to fall, easy enough to die ; cowards do that, but it is Godly 
to live and overcome. 

We must face our life problem somewhere. I do not 
believe in any postponement, in any neglected work. I 
like the poem “Excelsior.” The hero carried that ban¬ 
ner with him, even in death. If we hold on to truth 
as he did to the banner, we will not be picked up dead, 
but will pick ourselves up very much alive. 

Every morning we turn a page of our life book. If we 
would keep it pure and unsullied, what a beacon light it 
would be to the world! The torch we are holding lights 
not only our own way, but also the way of each fellow 
traveler. It is a light on the path to everyone who be- 


LIFE AS WE MAKE IT. 


29 


holda it, and we never can tell how far, how long or how 
much our light will help another. Let it shine on! It will 
grow more and more unto the perfect day. We know 
how we are struggling to find a footing, how little 
we know of ourselves, how hard it is to realize our own 
hearts. 

Submission to experiences is one of the hardest les¬ 
sons to be learned, yet that very experience which seemed 
the hardest to pass through may prove at last our great¬ 
est blessing. No heart is without its cloud, great or 
small, till truth puts it away, and none are without sun¬ 
shine, more or less. Some accept and expect more than 
others. Only be thankful and cheerful, and do not push 
away the good that is for you. 

The purest, brightest tints are sometimes found on 
petals bedewed with the bitterest tears. The growth 
and nourishment of the rarest flowers are ofttimes 
watered with tears wrung from the hidden recesses of the 
heart. Storm and calms alternate, and many times 
we find one when we look for the other. We find 
the thorns many times when we look for roses; but it 
does not prove that the roses are not there. Search 
till you find them. 

Shadows that we see hovering over our lives seem 
to envelop us for a time so that the sunshine does not 
reach us. These same shadows, trials, experiences more 
fully develop our strength, and the good in us takes 
a deeper hold, becomes stronger, thereby bringing forth 
more and far better fruit than if the sun’s bright rays 
had not been hid for a season. Then the shadows and 
the sunshine of our lives each in turn serves its pur¬ 
pose. 

The variations from light to shade, from shadow to 


30 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


sunshine, follow each other sometimes in quick succes¬ 
sion. Then, again, the shadow falls so slow we 
hardly realize it until it has wrapped us in its mantle of 
darkness, and we cannot pierce through it to God’s 
brightness. Surely then is the time to walk by faith. 
But amid all the tryings and failings, all the discour¬ 
agements that loom up before us, there is in the midst of 
us a never-failing fountain of good springing up, if we 
will let it; bright thoughts, good deeds, whose clear > 
bright waters have been purified by the ever indwelling 
Christ, and will ever flow ceaselessly onward, reflecting 
from their limpid surface every ray of sunlight. 

This then is our greatest gain, our peace, our heaven, 
here and now. And it gives encouragement to the 
onlooker to “hold fast till I come” (truth). And with 
that truth comes our freedom. Sometimes the broadest 
rivers are formed from little springs that flow in here 
and there, and our lives are also made up of little 
things. If we but hold the highest and holiest 
thoughts for our ideal, it shall be realized. They must 
be held with a steadfast purpose, with an intelligent mind 
possessed of strong mental powers. 

We all help, like the drops in the ocean, no matter how 
small and inferior we may look to the world. We are 
needed; the links in the chain would not be perfect with¬ 
out us. Some lives seem so small, like a tiny reed placed 
in the cleft of a rock, while others like the oak are flour¬ 
ishing on a broad expanse. While we are trying to unfold 
our broadness and scatter the rays of light here and there, 
the soul’s power becones more illumined and we pene¬ 
trate into the beyond 

Victor Hugo says, “There are no occult forces; there 
are only luminous forces. Occult force is chaos; lumin- 


LIFE AS WE MAKE IT. 


31 


ous force is God.” Let us have God, the knowable; 
not God, the unknowable. That kind of a God never 
has done, never can do, and never will do anything 
for us. We do not want anything that we do not know 
of, and cannot find out. Of what use is it to us? What 
we want is to find out. 

When we have done our best, the consequences be¬ 
come divine. Right here is a point to be gained in our 
search after truth—If we have seemed to make a mis¬ 
take, seemed to have gone into the fire with our eyes 
wide open, do not say, Why did I make this mistake ? 
Why was I not guided? You made no mistake; you 
were guided. Stand firm and say, as one of old did 
when trouble had the ascendency, “ They meant it for 
my injury, but God meant it for good.” Many times our 
lives fall below the desired point because the ideal reaches 
so far beyond the real that we are unconsciously lost, and 
wake to the realization that our lives are blasted be¬ 
cause we did not make them as we would. We knew not 
ourselves. 

With what different eyes different persons look on dif¬ 
ferent people! In their blindness they ofttimes pro¬ 
nounce scoffing judgment: but he who sees clearly the 
truth of himself, knows his brothers’ victories. 

Let every word go forth as seed planted by the way- 
side. Let the crumbs fall from the table of truth con¬ 
stantly, from the plentitude of one life falls a crumb that 
stays the cravings of another; so while one is feasting at 
the table, another is partaking of the loaf, and still an¬ 
other is finding the crumbs. So all are fulfilling the com¬ 
mands of Holy Writ, “gather up the fragments, that 
nothing be lost.” 


CHAPTER V. 


HEALTH. 

Talk health, the dreary never-changing tale 
Of mortal maladies is worn and stale! 

You cannot charm, or interest, or please, 

By harping on that minor chord, disease. 

Say you are well, or all is well with you, 

And God shall hear your words and make them true. 

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 

Health is a faculty within us; I might say a thought 
within us that must be developed. We must dwell 
upon it, think upon it, speak it, magnify it, till every fiber 
of our body is filled and thrilled with the electric force— 
vibrations of health. The body responds to our word of 
power, our word of truth. One cannot do much with 
a sick body; it must be rounded out, well developed; 
every organ must be alive and active. 

We can only make it so by true thinking. Health is 
the truth of us as it should be, real) disease is the un¬ 
truth of us, unreal—a myth. Sow the seeds of just what 
you want to spring forth in your body, seeds of health. 
You strengthen every muscle and bring your forces to 
work holding this thought, I Am all powerf ul. It is a 
mental tonic, and brings new life to soul and body. 

Say I Am one with the law of universal life. It is a men¬ 
tal exercise; use it freely and you will grow strong and 
vigorous and change your body in every part; your hands, 
your head and the expression of your face, and every 
internal organ, as well as external, will respond to this 
strong thought of yours. Say I am health , wholeness now, 


HEALTH. 


33 


and a newness of life will thrill you from head to foot. 
One true thought will chase a thousand wrong ones, and 
two will put ten thousand to flight. Wrong thoughts are 
the secret sins that you are harboring, thinking no one 
knows them, though they are plainly visible to those 
who read thoughts. These are the plagues that come 
upon us and bring disease and death to our kingdom 
sooner or later. Disease is the fruit of sin; death is the 
fruit of disease. Cease sinning in thought; then you will 
in act. Thinking right means doing right. 

Did we know ourselves, know who and what and 
where we are, we would arouse to a newness of life, 
could we understand that we had made our lives what 
they are, that life is not an apology, but a life of work ; 
not a blundering motion, but a science; we would strike 
out boldly for freedom. 

Emerson says: “Our eyes are holden that we cannot 
see things that stare us in the face, until the hour arrives 
when the mind is ripened—then we behold them, and the 
time when we saw them not is like a dream.” 

Then let our minds be ripened, opened, receptive to 
the truth from whatever quarter it comes, or on whatever 
lines it may appear. Prove all things by first believing. 
It is ignorance that shuts us out from the light of intelli¬ 
gence, whose door opens frem the inside. If we will open 
it wide and unbar the windows of the soul, we let the 
light of truth in. 

We gain by thinking on these things, and lose by not 
doing so. It is your gain or your loss, just as you accept 
or reject. One gains much with every temptation he re¬ 
sists, and loses much with every one to which he suc¬ 
cumbs. 

Then the ability to overcome a temptation really de- 


34 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


cides our worth. We are being “ weighed in the bal¬ 
ance,” measured. Shall we stand or fall? 

Paul says, ‘‘Having done all, stand; having your loins 
girt about with truth”—what we need, to be shielded by 
and protected with. 

We are never real sufferers except through our own ig¬ 
norance. If some one tries to injure us, we suffer only 
so far as we allow ourselves to be injured, and no 
more. Do not allow it, the ball that was thrown will re¬ 
bound and strike the sender. 

“You never can tell what a thought may do 
In bringing you hate or love ; 

For thoughts are things, and their airy wings 
Are swifter than carrier doves. 

They follow the law of the universe; 

Each thing creates its kind. 

And they speed o’er the track to bring you back 
Whatever went out of your mind.” 

Can we be too careful of what goes out of the mind? 
We are the weavers in our own loom of life; the threads 
(thoughts) are good or bad. That rests with the thinker 
alone. 

“ It were better, then, 0 my friend, to spin 
A beautiful thread than a thread of sin.” 

We teach health by living it. We can teach truly 
only by doing. Then we are teaching not by words, but 
by acts. The soul speaks and we feel it, though the lips 
may not have uttered one word. When soul meets soul 
words are useless. Eye did not see, neither did the ear 
hear, but there has entered into the heart of that one who 
is attuned to you such truths, such love, as never can 
be effaced, printed indellibly within, though the lips have 
refused a sound. Each knows, and the love will last as 
long as life, which is eternal. 


HEALTH. 


35 


Look inward, for you have there a fountain of 
health and happiness that will flow to you ever if 
you will but allow it; only as you find true happiness, 
true friends there, will you find them without. One is — 
the other seems to be. 

The knowledge that you understand yourself is a 
power to use when a patient comes to you to be 
healed. If you are “rooted and grounded” in the truth 
you could not “ take ” disease from them, as some healers 
do. Give them truth instead of sympathy, at once, in 
such electric shocks that they will be awakened though 
hard they may think it then. 

It will put them in true communion with their own 
souls, their real selves. The writer never took a disease 
from a patient, but as many have, a thought is given to 
show the falsity of it, and to help those who do. Our 
lives must be a progression, and they could not be 
if we had to take anything that comes along. It would 
only be a camping ground, and we cannot camp any¬ 
where along the line; our march must be ever on¬ 
ward if we would attain to heights undiscovered, unex¬ 
plored by us. Every thought is a step and precedes 
action, which is the expression of thought. 

Health is a normal condition, not an exception, and 
could we understand that it is ours by divine inheritance 
we would not yield ourselves willing victims to disease 
and death, and think the “ Lord sent it as a judgment 
upon us,” or that it is “ His will we should be sick,” and 
then consent to death. 

Is God sick? No! Then God is health. What is God? 
Life, love, truth, mind, intelligence, principle, eternal en- 
ergy, vitalizing force, omnipresent, omnipotent, omnis¬ 
cient, all good, the All in All. We are just the same. He 


36 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


made us and pronounced His creation good. Our eyes 
are indeed holden and have been for thousands of years. 
It is time to open them and see for ourselves, not to look 
through another’s eyes and think we see, or think 
through another’s thinker and think we think it. If 
we let anyone else see or think for us we are in 
darkness, “dead in trespasses and in sin,” though we may 
be walking the streets with our fellow men. 

Don’t let any one make you believe it is spiritual to be 
sick or poor; it is not, but shows plainly the state of 
your thought. We will not only call health from the 
invisible, but riches too, all we need and at any time, just 
as Jesus Christ did. He had a healthy body and all 
riches. Our own thoughts are our own creative force. 
Our faces and forms tell that we carry mental burdens 
till we are almost stooped to the ground. 

The mental always reflects on the physical and bends 
our bodies. As the inner, the outer shows forth. 

“ Thrust out a little from land,” means get away from 
the shores of old beliefs, creeds, dogmas, isms. If you 
will thrust out be it ever so little, and think for yourself, 
you will find that the waters of wisdom are already yours 
and your net will be full. Then you will have found the 
Ego, the Christ within, the real YOU of you, the I Am. 

You cannot claim too much or make too great affirm¬ 
ations. In your efforts to climb you may fall many 
times. You will win by letting your fall be ever a rise. 
You must learn the lesson that Christ put forth sometime, 
somewhere. Commence now ; trust in your own untried 
forces; try them; they are deep; each achievement is a 
growth. “ To grow means ofttimes to suffer.” Take no 
thought of the suffering, just grow. 


HEALTH. 


37 


“To covet the prize, yet to shrink from the winning; 

To thirst for glory, yet fear to fight. 

Why, what can it lead to at last, but sinning, 

To mental languor and moral blight? ” 

We must all fight our own battles of life, and we con¬ 
quer in proportion as we wholly rely on the one Power. 
Then we do not have to carry Godin one hand and a “pill 
box in the other in case of an emergency, or take medi¬ 
cine behind the door, or apply to a doctor to “ pull you 
out,” or go to a medium or clairvoyant to “see” for you— 
see if your patients are going to be healed—all of these 
must be dropped. Doctors and medicines have been our 
idols. We would run for both when we had God right 
there. He does not need medicine to do His work, con¬ 
sequently He does not bless it. If you could have been 
healed, why were you not before you went to science? 
Medicine one day and science the next will not work. 

So, if you have sick spells, and don’t know what is the 
matter, you will find that they will cling to you till you 
let go of all external and internal methods. All idols 
must be dethroned forever before you make a firm footing 
for your feet. It must be a full and free surrender 
to the power of God, and it you will not do this you only 
make a failure of yourself, not of science. 

When the searchlight of truth is turned on us for 
good, we will practice what we preach. The best preach¬ 
ing there could be, and the only preaching that speaks to 
another, individual soul. 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE POWER OF THE SILEMT WORD. 

“ My word shall not return unto me void, but it shall accom¬ 
plish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing 
whereto I sent it.” 

Speak the word, speak it again and again, till you ac¬ 
complish what you desire, what you started out to do. 
Speak it in confidence and expect a result at once. By no 
means get discouraged v hile speaking it. Speak it in 
the name of I Am, and keep declaring that what you want 
is yours already; it is, it is mine now, as I speak; my God 
has answered. Out of our mouths are we approved or 
condemned. We receive the fruit of our thoughts. Then 
start with pure seed sown by God’s own hand within us; 
send it forth in the atmosphere, on the etherial waves 
that shall waft it on and on, and it shall return to you 
with a thousandfold power of the same you sent. Was it 
love? Then love shall be returned. Was it peace, har¬ 
mony, joy, good? Then all these things shall come back 
to you. Was it hate, anger, revenge? Then they will 
return to you, sometimes from your dearest friend, and 
you wonder why, when you loved your friend so much. 
They might not have received your hate thought, but one 
received them and returned the hate to you, so the seed 
you planted fruited. Choose wisely the seed thought, for 
it reaches over the whole earth the moment you think 
it; and do not sow thorns that shall sting you repeated¬ 
ly. Your silent word will bring a dove of peace or a 
raven back to your heart. Let it be love. 

You are not only daily, but hourly laborers in your own 


THE POWER OF THE SILENT WORD. 


39 


world. Rest assured that it is your faithful working 
in your own vineyard (world) that brings you your 
reward. 

We are all adepts in our own lines. Why? Be¬ 
cause we know our own lives as no one else does. The 
mystic work within is none the less powerful for its very 
stillness, none the less grand because it awaits the storm 
and knows its standing, none the less mighty because the 
waves dash on and we are not moved. The Power is 
there. Not sitting in the silence, but being the silence the 
work is done. 

It is said that “ light preserves all scenes, and air pre¬ 
serves all sounds,” and it is not surprising when to-day 
we not only read thoughts, but photograph them. Pho¬ 
tograph your thought atmosphere. Are your secret 
thoughts purity, truth and love? Make a pure thought 
atmosphere and others feel it as they come into your 
presence. 

To be always cheerful and happy under any circum¬ 
stances is a hard lesson for all, but the hard lessons only 
call out more and greater power, show you yourself, 
surely we need to be thankful for any lesson that shows 
ourselves to ourselves. The building of our character, 
our state of mind, is not measured by our feelings, but 
by principle, by what is right. It would be nonsense to 
depend on feelings to guide us. We feel happy at one 
moment, and the next we are sure something is going to 
happen, and it does. Some one says “ I told you so.” 
Let feelings alone and go by a settled principle, a def¬ 
inite understanding with yourself that only good is 
yours and only good can reach you. Experiences and 
practice help us wonderfully along the road we are trav¬ 
eling. There is but one right road; the rest are by-paths 


40 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


into which we have strayed. We will have to strike for 
the main line if we reach our destination, the harbor of 
peace. The quicksands are the little nagging things 
of everyday life; we must get above them at once, 
and not let our feet sink into such marshy ground. 

Character building depends altogether upon the grit 
we have back of us on which to build. Wonderful 
what an amount we have when we bring it to the 
front! I know one who brought this same power forth 
and it saved her life. She found out her husband 
did not care whether she lived or died, and she proved 
the Power and lived. All want to learn how to build a 
true character, and then go to work and build. Emerson 
says: “A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrian 
stanza—read it forward, backward or across, it spells 
the same thing.” And it is the way one’s character 
must spell on all sides. So in the dealing, whether 
it is a note, or a promise to pay; or a deal of five 
dollars or five thousand, it spells just the same. A 
promise to pay is a promise to yourself; see that 
you fulfill it. We can only build a true character 
by living the Christ life. Let our silent word be 
strong, full of power and to the point. Heed the silent 
monitor, the mystic that is ever building the with¬ 
in. Then Christ’s words will not be taken as a theory 
only, but a practical truth that all can live. Theory 
has filled graves, insane asylums and penitentiaries. 
When the world wakes up and does away with theory, 
and puts in its place practice , these places will not exist, 
for the demand will have ceased for them. 

I have dwelt much on the pDwer of thought. It is the 
cause and effect of all things; action and reaction. I do 
not want to convert the reader; simply to tell him his 


THE POWER OF THE SILENT WORD. 


41 


power, what he can do if he will. If I convert anyone 
to this truth it will be as one of the pioneers of Metho¬ 
dism said, when he was visiting his circuit, seeing a man 
drunk in a ditch by the roadside, he said: “ What are 
you doing here and who are you?” 

“Don’t you know me? I am the man you con¬ 
verted.” 

He looked at him and said: “ I think it must be as 
you say, that I converted you. One thing I do know— 
God never had a hand in it.” 

There have been many conversions where God did not 
have £L hand in it, and that is the reason why they did 
not last. When God has a hand in it, it is done, and for¬ 
ever done. Do not try to convert any one. Do not try 
to force ypur truth on any one. Live your life right, and 
if the world sees you do, all will want what you have, 
and come to you for help. I knew one who called herself 
a scientist. She said: “I can’t stay in this house. I must 
move. They don’t want what I have,” I said to her: 
“ I do not blame them one bit. No one wants what you 
have. Why do you not get something that they do 
want?” We must get something that the world wants, 
and sees the good in, the need of, something that satisfies 
the soul. Let us begin to practice this lesson of life just 
as we practiced the multiplication table when we went 
to school. Practice till we learn it, and live it. The 
promise is given to him who overcomes. And as one 
victory follows another, every overcoming makes us 
stronger to come over the next. Self mastery defines our 
standing, proves our worth. Prove yourself. 


CHAPTER VII. 


SELF TRAINING. 

God shall be my hope, my stay, my guide and lantern to my 
feet.—Shakespeare. 

There is a self training that all must go through to 
bring all of our faculties under submission to the I Am 
of our kingdom. This self training is not done in a mo¬ 
ment. No one who wants to make a good musician ex¬ 
pects to become one any other way but by constant prac¬ 
tice, hour upon hour, day after day and year after year. 
So we, if we expect to be well trained soldiers, we must 
practice the presence of God (good). This must be in our 
daily lives, for surely it is nothing we can lay by for to¬ 
morrow. Live the life; nothing else will do, nothing else 
will tell, and nothing else will be of any effect. It must 
come from the heart, not from the head, or it becomes 
as the Christ said, You speak with your lips but your 
hearts are far from me. We must get into the stillness 
where the soul reigns, if we would still the storms and 
tempests of life. Get in touch with all good, then we will 
be in touch with ourselves and all with which we come 
in contact. Sometimes in this stillness the light of truth 
bursts suddenly. Then we do not have to speak the word 
or even think it. “ It is finished,” for in the hour 
ye think not the Son of Man cometh. Silence reigns; 
thinking the truth, which is declarative prayer; instanta¬ 
neous work is the result. The perfect stillness was in¬ 
stantaneous action, hence the result. Knowing is the 
highest form of prayer. 

“ Be still and know that I am God.” 


SELF TRAINING. 


43 


Go in to the Christ part of your nature and abide 
there. The abiding consciousness of the indwelling 
Christ is what we need, and it only comes with self 
training; and it is of the utmost importance to do good 
works. Let your soul work in harmony with the uni¬ 
versal intelligence of life and health, just as you breathe 
the air, breathing in the good and breathing out the good. 
Do not waver in your determination for self mastery. You 
have seen and lived one side of your life; see and live the 
other. And can you make it a failure when you have de¬ 
clared success? At times it may look as though your 
words would never fruit, but you do not get there with 
one bound. It is little by little that we attain the high¬ 
est. Be not disturbed if you do not get there as soon as 
some ; do not doubt your ability to arrive later on. You 
will come in on time if you will look to no one, except 
yourself. 

Faith, that makes a stout heart, a clear head and a 
strong body, will be the result of self training. Stand 
firm on the rock that does not move when the waves 
dash against it. Sometimes the waves wash over it, but 
when the waters recede it is there in all of its majesty, 
firm and strong. You are that rock; I am that rock. It 
is the Holy One within you that never shall be downed 
that will make an affliction a sore trial or, a test of faith 
and patience. If we do this work understandingly the 
truth within us will push us higher. If it has not been 
done in that line, we will step down from the ladder and 
start anew. 

“ Be sure when you see anyone working the works of 
Jesus, healing the sick, loosening the bound, by the word 
of truth spoken in faith, that this faith did not jump into 
them from some outside source all at once. But if we 


44 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


knew the facts, we should probably know of days and 
nights when with clenched fists and set teeth, they 
have held fast to the Christ within, trusting where they 
could not trace, until they found themselves possessing 
the very faith of the Son of God.” 

This faith that trains your thoughts to hold fast, that 
keeps them where you want them and on what you want, 
is concentration, application, and comes to us in self 
training, which is self-mastery. You cannot be moved. 
When you can say from the spirit, I have overcome, 
I speak and it is done, you are indeed victorious and 
consider only the good fortune of the overcoming, and 
never the ill fortune of the happening. The happening 
is in the past, the overcoming now. Then let a blessing 
go forth from your heart (not lips alone) for every trial 
that comes to you, that strength and power also comes 
with it, to overcome. This seems hard to those who can¬ 
not read between the lines, and feel that they have not 
deserved all that has come to them. Just be thankful 
that the power was given you to overcome. The writer 
has stood in this very place and can say of a truth that 
it is the only way out of it, and the only way for self- 
mastery. Marcus Aurelius says, “ He is a blind man that 
shuts the eyes of his understanding; and he is a beggar 
that is not furnished at home, but wants the assist¬ 
ance of another. He that frets himself because things 
do not happen just as he would have them, and se¬ 
cedes and separates himself from the law of universal na¬ 
ture, is but a sort of an ulcer of the world, never consid¬ 
ering that the same cause which produced the displeasing 
accident made him too, and lastly, he that is selfish and 
cuts off his own soul from the universal soul of all 
rational beings, is a kind of voluntary outlaw.” 


SELF TRAINING. 


45 


Many of us by choice are voluntary outlaws, never 
thinking of what we can give but just in getting, never 
realizing by so doing that we are cutting off our own 
supply. There must be a giving forth from ourselves of 
our abundance, whether it be thoughts, words, acts, time 
or money, ere a supply can return to our hands, remem¬ 
bering there is a vast difference between the statue of the 
man and the status of the soul, between being a man and 
having true manliness. Let us have manly men that are 
firm, brave, undaunted, dignified, noble, godly, true to 
themselves, true men, true women and the offspring 
will be true children, like produces like, surely a self 
training is necessary to our own unfoldment, necessary in 
gaining self mastery. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


FAITH. 

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evi¬ 
dence of things not seen.” 

Faith: Say it once, say it twice, say it hundreds of 
times if need be, I have the very faith of God ; then go to 
work and prove your words. By saying these words you 
increase your faith, and the smallest seed thought of 
faith held to will sometimes bring you the greatest in¬ 
crease of that faith. Then what will the greatest of faith 
do? It will bring your heart’s desires for good, for wis¬ 
dom, for understanding. 

Out of our smallest faith thought grows the greatest 
accomplishments, and by the use of it we are enabled to 
remove our own mountains (the obstacles that lie along 
our path.) 

We have many mountains to remove before we can 
obtain our heart’s desire; all of our subjects, which are 
our thoughts, must become loyal to their king and return 
to their Father’s house. We must have an increase of 
faith that all can be accomplished ; then work has well 
begun. Every event in life is first marked out, worked 
out in mind (in thought) ere it is brought forth to be 
seen by the world. Everything is worked out in our 
own mental realm ; the artist has painted his picture in 
his mind by his faith that he could do it, ere he placed it 
on canvas to be seen of men. 

Faith, when cultivated, is a marvelous power, and is 
necessary if we would accomplish the work we have 
formed in mind. 


FAITH. 


47 


Holding the words, I have all faith in myself, will bring 
such a cyclone of power as to even astonish yourself; a 
power so limitless, so strong, so broad, so deep, that it 
reaches far out in space, in the great universe of life, and 
brings back to you visible demonstration of your own 
power. 

Such faith is essential if we would attain the highest. 
We can attain it, for all attainments require an earnest 
strong effort on our part. Here self training is necessary 
to know and use the power that is vested in yourself. 

If one had as much faith in God as he has in a 
doctor, he would send for God every time. Pie would not 
have to send, either, for he would know God was already 
there. 

Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet 
speaking, I will hear. “ Faith without works is dead; ” 
and no dead faith of our fathers is of any account to us; 
it must be a live faith ; faith in every atom of our being. 

Every thought and throb of the heart must be of faith; 
faith that takes no denial. This faith will remove moun¬ 
tains, and those of others who come to us for help, for no 
two have the same to remove, one is in the form of pov¬ 
erty, another fear, and another sickness, and so on! But 
the same faith will remove them all, no matter what forms 
they assume. It is this faith that “ when ye pray believe 
ye have already received/’ which is the highest attain¬ 
ment of faith, and brings with it supreme power. Do you 
doubt that it will not heal you through and through of 
poverty and sickness! Try it and see. When you get the 
faith that the Syrophaenician woman had the work will 
be done. She was not disturbed because the disciples 
asked Christ to send her away, “ for she crieth after us,” 
she only held the harder that her daughter might be 


48 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


healed. Even Christ could not disturb her faith, though 
he tested it. “ Oh, woman, great is thy faith, be it unto 
thee as thou wilt; ” and her daughter was healed at that 
very hour. 

When our faith reaches the mountain top, reaches out 
to God above, our work will be done as Christ did His, 
instantaneously. He said, “ As thy faith is, so be it done 
unto thee,” and if it is not done we may know it 
is a lack of faith on our part, whether it is a lack 
of faith in ourselves, or in God, or both. There is a 
doubt somewhere within you that must be killed out, 
rooted out. Doubt never accomplished anything; it must 
be dethroned and faith enthroned within you. 

Do not doubt in your heart when you speak your word. 
If we have perfect faith in our own spoken word, we will 
not have to wait days, months or years for an answer. 
We doubt, and then wonder why we do not get an answer 
to our prayer. When you speak (pray) do not # say I 
want this, but that I am now in full po-session of what 
I have asked for; it is now mine by reason of my desire. 

Knowledge is possession, is power; build your faith- 
bridge and walk over it to your own inheritance. You 
have a divine inheritance of health, wealth, all that you 
need for your happiness. If you do not know it, or if you 
do know it and do not claim it, it will do you no good. 
Like a man starving in a city with money in his pocket; 
not knowing it was there it was of no benefit. There 
have been many cases of death from thirst, and water 
only a few feet away ; so the water being there did not 
help them. They must first know it is there, and then 
use it. Use brings life, power. We are fixtures in this 
life just so far as we stop our thinking, find an abid¬ 
ing place outside of ourselves, outside of our own thought, 


FAITH. 


49 


and camp out, or perhaps locate for years, till a new 
thought comes and wakes us up and we move on, perhaps 
to another camping ground, and abide there for a while 
and doze off in a state of lethargy, and let some one else 
do our thinking. Arouse your dead self and live! All 
power is yours. It is in your power to have health in¬ 
stead of sickness, riches instead of poverty, youth instead 
age, beauty instead of decay. Claim what you desire 
with faith that is now yours. We can truly turn back¬ 
ward and commence life anew, and live, live in every part 
of the body. Our face speaks then. Let purity of 
thought and action govern our lives, and it is as the poet 
Watts said— 

“ Were I so tall to reach the pole, 

Or grasp the ocean with my span, 

I must be measured by my soul, 

For mind’s the standard of the man.” 

Then the God-mind rules and we have the same mind 
within us that was in Christ Jesus. Then the heights 
are reached here and now. 

“ Greater works than these shall ye do.” 

To the extent that you hold to these words make them 
your own. I have faith in the all good. I have faith in 
myself, will all things change to you, and your good ap¬ 
pear. Faith w T ill develop you and open your conscious¬ 
ness to the receiving of what belongs to you. Your own, 
by your faith and trust, you have attracted it to you and 
know it when it comes. Doubt dwarfs you, faith 
enlarges your capacity for receiving and you grow in new¬ 
ness of life and your body reflects that thought. Be firm. 
Be faithful. Be trustful. 


CHAPTER IX. 

PERSISTENCY. 

“ Yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him 
as many as he needeth.” 

We can learn anything, live anything, be what we de¬ 
sire to be, if we are persistent in holding to what we 
want. This will make our lives what we want them. 
These are strange words to many, but we are told to “en¬ 
tertain strangers (strange thought), for thereby some have 
entertained angels unawares.” These new thoughts are 
our angels and we want to entertain them by heeding 
what they say. They will. lead into the right path, 
into one you have never trod. Be persistent, and new 
truths will dawn upon you. No man or woman ever 
made a success in life without being persistent. No 
merchant ever attained great commercial powers, as 
he passed up from cash boy to salesman, to cashier, 
and on to the head of the house, without working persist¬ 
ently till he reached the heights. 

Always aim high. You will alight many times be¬ 
fore you reach the point of your destination, but that is 
no reason you will not reach it; for every time you alight 
you start again with renewed strength, and by and by 
the strength that you have accumulated in your flights 
. become so strong that you cannot alight on lower ground 
than that at which you aimed first in thought. 

The story of man’s fall has been preached and drummed 
into our ears all of our lives. He never could fall. His 
fall has ever been upward; he has always gained ground. 


PERSISTENCY. 


51 


A bird of passage alights to rest and think, gathers 
strength and goes on. 

Christ said to his disciples, “ Come ye apart and 
rest awhile.” Let no one think or say that he is not His 
disciple. “ Whosoever will.” His words are for you and 
for me. God is no respecter of persons ; then these words 
were meant for all. 

So this truth we are so persistently seeking to-day is 
changeless and eternal, and as individuals we must strike 
out for ourselves. We cannot stop anywhere along 
the journey even for a night, for when the clear light 
of morning comes to our souls, it is onward forever, 
onward in quest of truth. All are pioneers in this 
search, and each blazes his own way through the forest 
of creeds and isms saying, “ I am free to think, I am 
free to see this truth for myself. Then I follow only where 
my own Christ (truth) leads me. This is freedom. 

The Adept said, “All roads lead to the top of the 
mountain, but the same moon is seen after you get there.” 
It is true all roads lead there. Some are rocky and rough ) 
some sandy and full of pitfalls, such ss sickness, poverty, 
fear, selfishness, and a host of others! You will find all 
kinds of churches and doctors on this route; they always go 
together. Like putting your name on the church record, 
and thinking you at least are saved, whether your brother 
is or not, or perhaps thinking that Christ died for you, and 
you have nothing to do for yourself, and so on—these 
things are truly snares for your feet. 

Leave them all; take the right road, and come into the 
truth through your own teacher within. That one never 
fails. It does not matter what road another comes in on, 
we are to help him put any obstacle out of his path. 

The one who says I know, I have, I am all that I 


52 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


desire to be, will by his persistent effort accomplish it; 
for our desires are our growth. They are true prayers- 
Say, 1 will! I WILL. 

It is wonderful how strong we grow thinking true 
thoughts. No wonder our mountains go down quick¬ 
ly though before they seemed so high we could not see 
over them! If sometimes they seem long in disappearing 
cling faster to the truth within you, saying, I have spoken 
and am obeyed. Troubled waters cease when we know 
our power. When we find our real selves we have found 
the “ pearl of great price,” which we cannot sell, and 
no money can buy. 

Swami Vivekananda says: “ We must learn that truth 
may be expressed in a hundred thousand ways, and each 
one yet be true. We must learn that the same thing can 
be viewed from a hundred different standpoints, and yet 
be the same thing.” So the truth that one expresses or 
puts forth, may not be truth to another till he has risen 
or unfolded to that truth. The first interpretation 
was his past apprehension of trnth. The mists of error 
vanish and the glass he is looking through becomes 
clearer; so clear that it reflects only the good of life. 
Then he sees things as he should. 

Reader, you are responsible for the power that has been 
given you, whether you use it or not. You must answer 
to your own soul whether you have hid the talent with 
which God entrusted you, in the napkin of ignorance 
(disuse), or have put it to the exchangers (put it to use) 
that the Christ within you can say, “ I have received mine 
own with usury.” 

If you use your arm it becomes stronger; use it not 
and it will become weakened. Use brings power. 

Persistency in seeking truth will bring knowledge, and 


PERSISTENCY. 


53 


the rough places in life will be made smooth. Start in 
with the intention of living it. 

Do not drift and let the tide carry you wherever it will. 
Have a motive and pursue the object earnestly till it is 
yours. 

It is right and beautiful to go to a teacher if you do not 
understand the Christ truth, but it is much more beauti¬ 
ful to go within and find your teacher and the answer to 
all your questions. It is not “ second hand ” when you 
find it there, and at last you will have to do as the Christ 
said enter into your closet. Second hand things seldom 
give satisfaction. The victor is he who can go it alone. 
Do not say, this truth may be for others, but is impractic¬ 
able for me. It is for you if you will work for it. I know 
of one who came out of a hospital, off a sick bed (the doctors 
said a bed of death), from under several doctors, in a 
house of thirty persons, and not one believed as she did. 
She worked her way to health and to prosperity alone 
with God, and is still going on alone with God. “ God 
and one are a majority.” 

The truth that Christ spoke of, brings freedom to you 
who are pursuing it on all lines, not one line only, else it 
is not freedom or science, either one. Here is an instance 
where truth freed one, and no other power could do 
it, or did do it. A man had risen from the lowest posi¬ 
tion in the place to the highest but one; he had attained 
it by his honesty and integrity of character; he had 
grown up from boyhood in the business. Money was 
missing and suspicion was turned to him, “An enemy 
hast done it! ” He wrote to me asking help, that his 
honor and integrity had been questioned, and that he was 
innocent, which I knew as I read the letter. I wrote him 
to hold these words, “ I cannot be moved, I know myself. 


54 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


therefore I know my strength.” Experts had been placed 
on the case to find where the wrong lay; in six days 
after the first letter was written he wrote these words, 
“ Thank God, and thank you, the truth has come to light 
and I am vindicated.” No power on earth but the power 
of thought, the God power of man, could have freed him. 
Look to your thought, there lies your power, and do not 
think this science of life stops at healing the body . Why, 
that is only one thing it does, if that were all, it would 
not be a science or truth, and where would be our free¬ 
dom, for many have health but are not free from other 
conditions. 

Freedom means separation from all the discords and 
inharmonies of life; if you have one, I care not what it 
is, you are not free. If you are controlled by any adverse 
condition in life—by an animal or an insect—you are not 
free, and you will only gain your freedom by being per¬ 
sistent on all lines. Let this be your motto: Persistency. 


CHAPTER X. 


DEMANDING. 

“ For lo! my own shall come to me.”—Burroughs. 

Demanding truly means knowing that the supply 
is already within your grasp. Demand that the light, 
the power, be increased within you. The supply will not 
always, though it often does come, at the moment of ask¬ 
ing, but it will come as truly as the sun shines. It is not 
only according to our power, but to our faith in our own 
spoken word at the time of demanding. Demand guid. 
ance to be freed from all limitations, and expect it. De¬ 
mand forgetfulness of all things you do not wish to re¬ 
member. “ Let the dead past bury its dead.” Demand 
the good that is for you, and that the true one be made 
manifest in you now. Say I have it now. 

Keep out of the past and out of the future; we are only 
to deal with the Xow. The past is a shadow and barren 
of good results. Much of the fruit it has borne has been 
of the sorrowful sort, trials, failures, disappointments, 
sickness and sorrow. If the future can hold no terror to 
one who knows himself, knows his standing, the past cer¬ 
tainly cannot, so whatever it has been, let it drop from 
your life. 

True repentance is to cease from sinning. To-day, this 
hour, this moment holds all for you that you will accept. 
You could do no better did you live your life over unless 
you had known more. Learn to live now, and if you are 
an earnest seeker you will be led aright. 


56 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


Do you think your life is a chance and that you 
just happened here! You are sent to work out your own 
life’s destiny. We are more of a mystery to ourselves 
than we are to any one else. Each one to-day is being 
faced with a different problem, which he himsslf must 
solve. My life work is not yours; your life work is not 
mine. I could not fill your footsteps, neither could you 
fill mine. Each must build his own character,—“ For 
this cause came I into the world;” and the world should 
be benefited thereby. 

Demand the highest and best; take nothing less. Be 
yourself, whether it agrees with any one else or not; 
imitate no one. Emerson says, “Better be a nettle in the 
side of your friend than his echo.” 

Each one has his own vocation, and each has his true 
guide within. Listen for the voice, to the voice and obey 
the voice. It is your own soul speaking to you. Affirm 
that you hear and can make no mistake; that you see 
clearly the truth. God was in the still, small voice, not 
in the fire or whirlwind. 

Demand perfection; it must be the background of all 
our work. The beauty in the coloring of a picture de¬ 
pends wholly on the background. If our secret thoughts, 
the background of our lives, are not perfect, that shows 
forth in the picture of our daily living. Raise your stand¬ 
ard higher; let it be Perfection, and work to that end. 

Every one has a calling, and no one can fill that call¬ 
ing but himself. The greater power he puts forth in find¬ 
ing his calling, the greater his ability to prove his work. 
Our own work comes to us and we grow accordingly. 
Lives are unique if we are true men and women, not im¬ 
itators. 

Do not insist on doing the work of others; it keeps you 


DEMANDING. 


57 


out of your own, and them out of their own that much 
longer. 

Make yourself of the utmost value wherever you are 
and in whatever line you may be working; then you 
will be valued for what you are worth. If you know 
your own worth it is all you need to know, for the world 
passes the same judgment upon you that you do upon 
yourself. 

Do not try to reconcile yourself to the world’s wisdom 
or to any one individual’s opinion. Opinion is change¬ 
able. To-day it praises, to-morrow it blames; to-day it 
applauds you, to-morrow it says you are a fool; so even 
the world will push you on to stand alone. 

And standing alone is the only thing that gives you 
strength. If you lean on some one ebe believing as 
they believe, thinking as they think, where would be 
your individuality? You would not have any. Seeing 
and thinking as another does makes you an imitator, and 
imitation is limitation, the former you are stopped by 
another, the latter, by yourself. Can you afford to be 
stopped by another, or by yourself? Not if you want 
to grow. No one can claim all the truth or stop your 
growing. That remains with you as an individualist, 
where and when you shall stop. Have you attained to the 
height that you desired? Have you come up to your 
standard? Have you fulfilled your aspirations that you 
reached for in youth? If not, start at once and 
lay hold upon the power that is yours now, if you 
will demand that the power aid you in all your un¬ 
dertakings, and following the demand expect to receive 
the full benefit of what you have asked for. Do not 
say after you have made your mental call, “ I may not 
get it. I don’t expect it.” Expect it, think, receive, 


58 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


speak, receive, till youdo receive. Let nothing daunt you. 
He alone wins the prize who will take nothing but the 
prize. Accept of nothing less than what you yourself 
have demanded. Let no one say where your name shall 
be written on your own life’s page, or define your standing. 
You alone have the power to do that, assert the I Am. 

Dethrone the idol, I can’t, and enthrone the ideal, lean. 
I can make my life all I wish it to be, pure, holy, 
grand and noble, and I am making this my aim, I am 
giving forth this good to all, every one shall reap of the 
seed I plant, the world shall be benefited by my liv¬ 
ing. I will give to the whole world, knowing that by giv¬ 
ing I enrich myself, I am rich with the true riches, then 
am I rich with gold and silver. My knowledge is my 
possession, and my possession, my realization, and my re¬ 
alization “it is finished.” 


Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high, 
Can keep my own from me. 


CHAPTER XI. 

SELF-RELIANCE. 

In which cla*« are you? Are you easting the load 
Of overtaxed lifters who toil down the road? 

Or are you a leaner, who lets others bear 
Your portion of labor and worry and care? 

Self-reliance means to rely wholly on yourself; be your¬ 
self; speak, live, act all the truth you see to-day. To¬ 
morrow speak, act again all you see. Speak and act every 
day your highest. You will gain more and more truth 
and it will grow plainer and clearer to you. Not that 
truth which is changeless principal can change, hut 
the truth you perceive today with your limited capacity 
of seeing may not prove truth to you to-morrow. You 
have advanced an upward step, and in doing so you see 
more clearly to take the next. As you live up to all 
the light you see day by day, greater light will be added 
unto you, and still greater power will be given you. You 
have put your talent to use, it has increased, and you are 
receiving your own which no one can take from you, and 
to which no one can add. It is the law of giving and re¬ 
ceiving. If you do not give forth what you know and 
have proven, of what benefit is it to the world? None 
whatever. You have hid the light that was yours 
under a bushel, instead of putting it on the table (using 
it) to give light to all. Your work has not been done 
and your light has gone out. There is no oil to keep it 
burning. How great is the darkness. 

The oil would have increased on your hands had you 
been self-reliant, self-assertive, self-centered, and done the 


60 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


work well that was given you to do, regardless of the 
world’s opinion of you. 

Pope says, “ Act well your part, there all the honor 
lies.” And if you have done this, honor yourself. It is 
all the honor you need. Better that all the world should 
think you are wrong when you know yourself that you 
are right, than to have all the world think you are right 
when you yourself know that you are wrong. 

Are you looking to the people for praise? They will 
never give it; and if they did, what do you want of it? 
If you are self-reliant, you will not look to any one for 
praise or blame, you will stand alone and look to the God 
within yourself for approval. You do not want sym¬ 
pathy. Find the solid rock of truth that cannot be 
washed out from under you. 

Marcus Aurelius wrote in the second century— 

“ I have often wondered how it comes to pass that 
everybody should love themselves the best, and yet value 
their neighbor’s opinion about themselves more than their 
own. Therefore, if any good or eminent instructor should 
stand at a man’s elbow and order him to turn his inside 
outwards, and publish every thought and fancy as fast 
as they came into his head, he would not submit so much 
as a day’s discipline. Thus we stand more in awe of our 
neighbor’s judgment than our own.” 

If we value any other opinion more than we do our 
own, we are not individualized beings, neither are we self- 
reliant or self-assertive. 

If we did not think that some one knows more 
than we do we would go to work with vigor and rely on 
ourselves to find out if that one really does know more; 
if so, why? If he knows more, I can. God gives 
you the same wisdom that He gives the wisest. “Because 


SELF-RELIANCE. 


61 


you find a thing very difficult, do not at once conclude 
that no man can master it; but what you observe proper 
and practicable by another, believe likewise within your 
own power.” 

When one reaches- this point of self-assertion or self- 
reliance, he knows his worth and will keep all things 
under his feet and walk uprightly; for the God-man has 
no rival —he is, and the more he consults his own powers 
and depends on them, the greater difference will be seen 
between him and his fellowmen. 

To be misunderstood gives one greater energy or zeal 
to be understood, or rather to understand himself, which 
is all that is necessary. The world may and does misun¬ 
derstand you and your work. Live your life, it may not 
be like that of anyone else, it is that part which 
gives it value. “Wherefore come out from among 
them and be ye separate.’’ You will never gain self-reli¬ 
ance till you do, but, on the contrary, you will lose your 
own individuality and pass out of life. When we will not 
stand on our own feet, they are taken out from under us. 
Every faculty we do not use, will die from disuse. “ Look 
well to the ways of your household (your thoughts) and eat 
not the bread of idleness ” or laziness either, for we can 
be both mentally and physically lazy. If people were 
self-reliant, relied wholly upon the power within them, 
they would not take medicine, better still, they would not 
be sick, neither would they “see” so much when they 
sit in the silence and wonder what it means. It means 
this: That if God really did give you that symbol, He 
would have given you the meaning of it. He does not 
leave His children in darkness when they depend wholly 
on Him. 

Of what use is the “seeing” of things? Has it 


62 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


helped you out of sickness, poverty, troubles? Seeing ac 
cidents, fires, murders, etc., years after they have hap¬ 
pened is of no benefit to any one, and it is of no benefit if 
you “ see ” them before, if you have not the power to stop 
them. For instance, a lady once saw (in the mental) a 
friend drowning. Several days later her friend met with 
an accident and would have drowned had not two men for¬ 
tunately come ti her rescue. The forseeing of events did 
not help her friend any. This foreseeing is called psychi¬ 
cal development, but of what benefit was it to the one who 
did “ see,” or to the one who did not see? Margaret Peeke 
says, “ Wherever we see a genuine psychic, we see one 
who is either mentally or physically diseased. It would 
not be possible to find ten in a hundred that were sound 
in body or mind, or both,” and she further states, “it is 
bodily seeing and hearing.” What each one wants, is to 
see clearly the truth of himself and of everyone else as 
Christ did. We are told of Jesus reading thoughts, “and 
Jesus knew their thoughts,” etc. He always did this 
to help, so each one ought, and should do it, who 
have studied in the thought world. By reading your 
patients’ thoughts you can root out the cause of their 
troubles and heal them, unless you put out the cause the 
healing is never done. The effect of any cause not wholly 
rooted out will return in many forms, depending alto¬ 
gether on the organism of the person. 


CHAPTER XU. 

JUDGE NOT ACCORDING TO APPEARANCES. 

Judge not according to appearance, but righteous judgment. 

To “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge 
righteous judgment,” is one of the hardest tasks that one 
has to encounter in the journey onward. We have 
judged so long by our sight and hearing that it seems 
almost impossible not to do so. The senses do not give 
true testimony. We must look from and through a clear 
eye, and only through the inner sight can it be done. 

No healer would take a patient did he judge by the ap¬ 
pearance of that patient. We are told “ not to judge 
by the seeing of the eyes, nor by the hearing of the ears,” 
and this is what we must abide by if we would get to the 
truth of man’s being. A patient comes to be healed. 
You cannot believe what he tells you of his sickness or 
troubles. He is judging by his sense testimony. You are 
judging righteous judgment—a marvelous difference be¬ 
tween the two. Could the patient judge righteously he 
would be the healer instead of the one to be healed. 

No matter what the appearances are, we know them to 
be false, and it is our place to bring out the truth where 
falsity seems to exist. By holding the patient in health 
thoughts, it will bring out health that was lying dormant 
and inactive. It is there waiting to be awakened to new¬ 
ness of life. Speak health forth as one having authority, 
and the body will begin to throw off the old atoms and 
take on the new, thereby transforming our bodies by the 
renewing of our minds. The only way transformation 
can take place is from within outward. 


64 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


In overcoming any trouble we must take the same stand. 
In the place of sense testimony, righteous judgment must 
be substituted that all want to do what is right and it 
will bring the good forth in them sooner or later. It is 
hard to look past the shadow to the real, when you feel 
that some one has tried to injure you. We are blind 
when we do not want to see, and deaf when we do not 
want to hear; and if we are prejudiced we see and hear 
everything wrong. 

All are passing through troubles that the world knows 
nothing of, nor your best friends either, and it is well that 
they do not. Fight it out yourself, alone. Silence is a 
power; you will become stronger by keeping still though 
it may take many sleepless nights and weary days. The 
writer was passing through a most severe trial to her—there 
was not a ray of sunshine, though the sky was unclouded. 
These words came to her from the spirit: Ye shallbe tried 
as by fire. If ye fall away in times of trial , ye have never 
known the truth —words that have been with me as a bea¬ 
con light and ever will be. Since then I have had ample 
proof that if we do fall away in times of darkness, we 
have never known the truth. It is easy for people to be 
good when they have nothing to disturb them; they can 
be so good that they are utterly good for nothing. It is 
the storms coming that tells whether the ship is staunch 
and true. 

If people have good health and plenty of money, they 
could be good, too; but what would they do if they had 
neither? It is when they have neither that they must 
stand alone. Holding to the truth in the darkest hour, 
without one glimmer of light, steadfast and immovable, 
will bring the light. No one can tell how great a trial 
these things are, or how much they mean to another till 


JUDGE NOT ACCORDING TO APPEARANCES. 


65 


he goes through them and the “ waters divide,” and he 
passes over. If this will help some one who is falling 
under a load that is most heavy to bear, I gladly 
give it. I, myself, have been many times where darkness 
alone reigned, but I am now where the brightness of God’s 
truth reigns supreme. 

Do not be imposed upon by the shadow. Look through 
the darkness quickly to God’s brightness, and “ remem¬ 
ber that the shadow proves the light is always there.” 
You know, too, there must be a real before there can be a 
counterfeit. Make no mistake between the two. Arise 
out of the slough of despond and do your work wherever 
you may be placed, whether in office, schoolroom dr 
kitchen, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bond¬ 
age. You know best what bondage means to you. Make 
it freedom by casting all your carbon God, for He careth 
for you. To those who have written me of their uncon¬ 
genial work in different fields; work on in love, for love 
lightens labor, and you will be lifted out. Others have 
been, and sometimes very quickly too, and you may say 
as one did in a letter that we received while writing this: 
“ It is most too good to be true.” But you will find all 
this true just in proportion as you hold to truth. 

It is useless to deal with an outward effect, that is only 
the appearance. If you judge by sense testimony the 
“ blind would lead the blind, and both would fall into the 
ditch,” and when you get into the ditch you cannot help 
any one out till you get yourself out. 

It is a God-given right to be young and beautiful, and 
all want to be so, whether they own it or not; and it is our 
right to work to that end. The beauty from within will 
bring the outward expression. You can grow old or 
young, homely or beautiful, humpbacked or straight. 


66 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


You are doing your own growing. The starting and fin¬ 
ishing will end in the same place. The body can be per¬ 
fect and should be; but the body is not I—it is what the 
I (ego) uses to speak through. Make the fountain pure 
from within and draw therefrom your daily supply. 

By going past the appearance to the real, you can make 
any trial you are going through turn in your favor, and 
become your good. Good will grow out of it, if you look 
for that alone. 


CHAPTER xirr. 

DESIRE. 

The thing thou cravest so, waits in the distance 
Wrapt in the silence, unseen and dumb 
Essential to thy soul and thy existence 
Live worthy of it,—call, and it shall come. 

It is written by some scientists, “ Crucify your desires.” 
This means kill out; crucify everything you want, every 
hope, every aspiration, every high and noble purpose with¬ 
in your own soul. 

And what are you then? A nonentity, dead! One of 
those no account kind ! 

I would as soon be dead as to be a nonentity. If you 
are of no account to yourself you certainly are not to any 
one else, and you might as well be out of the world as in 
it—only I do not see of what account you would be in the 
other. 

Now crucifying your desires is pure nonsense, ignor¬ 
ance. What you do want to do is to hold the highest and 
holiest desires that can form within your consciousness, 
and hold them persistently till you get them, till they 
materialize here and now. The highest aspiration that 
you can hold about yourself, to yourself, will be yourself 
expressed. Aspiration precedes inspiration, and molds l 
it. If the mold is empty and perfect, and you fill it 
with your highest desire, what comes forth must be per¬ 
fect too. If the model is perfect that the artist works 
from, the painting or statue must be ; and we are artists 
of the highest, and mold our models as we wish. Our 
models are in mind before they can be expressed out- ^ 


68 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


wardly, then our desires should form and shape the mod¬ 
els the purest and best, the highest that a God-man can 
aspire to or the God-consciousness call forth ; limitless be¬ 
ings, spiritual and immortal. God like men and women. 

What you think of yourself you can think of your 
neighbor and brother, and the thought calls forth the 
same from them. The love that demands the highest in 
return for what you give is the highest , and is the only 
form of pure, unselfish love. Because of your demanding 
a return, it has brought forth from them what might 
never have come had you not done so. This is law. We 
never plant even one seed without demanding much in 
return. You may do a kind act and speak a kind word 
to any one, giving your love with them. You do not de¬ 
mand the return of that act, word and love to yourself; 
but the power you gave forth to them, demands them to 
pass it on to others, till it becomes seed time and harvest 
with us all. You give forth much love to one. You may 
not and do not demand that love be returned to you; but by 
giving it forth you do demand silently and surely that 
love shall be returned to some one else. 

In our short lives we have all done thousands of 
kind acts, and spoken kind words. If they all should 
come back to us, we might fall under the pressure unless 
we were propped up by truth. This is the one prop that 
never fails us. 

We have sent the word out on its limitless journey, and 
it will reach those who are ready for it and pass by those 
who are not, like the ground that does not bear, because 
it is not prepared for the seed. If one will not have the 
light that is presented to him, and is mentally or spirit¬ 
ually starving, it will do him no good for any one else to 
starve. None can possibly hinder others from getting 


DESIRE. 


69 


all they will receive, any more than they can hinder them 
from getting all the air they need. 

What we do want to crucify or root out within our¬ 
selves is the erroneous thoughts that have reigned so long, 
and have been the only rulers in our kingdom. The 
foundation must be purified from evil thoughts before 
the true basis of reform is established, and only as we free 
our minds from evil shall we free our bodies from evil 
habits. No impure thoughts or unholy desires will pass 
muster. It is not what we may have, or have had, but 
what we are , that will pass us on to perfection. 

Are we to-day free from Idols? Church, caste, creed, 
form, ceremony, wealth, worldly ambition, lust are all 
Idols. Worshipers differ in their idol worship. All will 
have to be dethroned and One, whose name is ONE, 
rule. 

“ He is the free man whom truth makes free, 

And all are slaves beside.” 

I do not think it makes any difference who we were 
once, or where we were once, but it is of the most vital 
importance where we are now, and what we are now 
doing. 

We know nothing of where we have been and if we did 
know would it help us any in this life? The help that we 
need is right here and right now. Some say they know, 
but I do not see that they are benefited by that. 

I do not argue whether reincarnation is or is not divine 
law, but no doubt it is in the divine economy of being, 
for it does certainly give people a chance if they have 
failed in one life, to work it out in another existence, till 
they work out the tcuth of their own being, till they find 
the Christ truth within themselves. Then they become 
regenerate souls and need no reincarnation, but progres- 


70 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


sion, or rather recognition of the highest truths that await 
an awakened soul. Why then should we not come back 
here, or go anywhere else, without going through the pro¬ 
cess of birth? “ All power is given unto you ”—then 
surely we can disintegrate our bodies, as they are only 
atoms of vibration, why not lay them down and take them 
up as we want them? 

If sickness and death are false claims, is not birth, too? 
We must have perfect control of our instrument (body) 
as the pilot does of his wheel, or the engineer does of his 
engine. The difference is our pilot and engineer are with¬ 
in and repairing all damages every moment of our lives, 
giving us a vitalizing force, a newness of life. Our own 
God power is the repairer. 

Readers, find yourselves and you will find that truly you 
have been prodigals in a far country. It is time to be¬ 
come wide awake to the truth. We have much to learn, 
and much to unlearn of that which is of no benefit 
to us. 

Education is discipline. Practice being honest, earnest, 
persistent to get at the truth. That will bring it. Accept 
it from whatever quarter it comes, and your life cannot 
be wasted or blasted, whether you are on the mountain 
or in the desert. If you want a field to work in you can 
always find it. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


WILL POWER. 

Back of thy parents and grandparents lies 
The great eternal will—That, too is thine 
Inheritance, strong, beautiful, divine, 

Sure lever of success for one who tries.—Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 

The will power in us, which is the God power, is the 
strongest power by far. Out of it grows longer life, 
greater love, deeper truth and broader thoughts that flow 
to all humanity as a common brotherhood. We are 
superior only so far as we have advanced in the under¬ 
standing of our own divinity. Will truly, and truly your 
life is. 

One writer says: 11 My will is as much my own as my 
constitution, and no more concerned in the will of another 
man than my breath and my body is an another man’s; 
for though we are born for the service of each other, yet 
our liberty is independent. Otherwise my neighbor’s 
faults might be my misfortune, but God has prevented 
this consequence, lest it should be in another’s power to 
make me unhappy.” Evidence of our own individual¬ 
ized soul or spirit for we need no other proof than that 
of our own individual life, that our work must be done 
independently of each other as much as our lives exist 
independent of each other. 

Man’s will, working with the divine will, is willing 
righteously. In truth there is only one will, the will of 
God (good) to be done in us. We are co-workers with 
omnipotent power. 

I am absolute will. 

I will to do good only. 


72 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


I will that my whole body be filled with the light of 
truth. 

I will to know all things, and have all wisdom. 

I will to be perfect. 

I am it, I am it. 

I am unconquerable. 

Then refuse to yield to any condition you do not want, 
or to let any obstacle stand in your path. Will that your 
eyes and ears be closed to all ignorance (the worst devil 
or evil one has to contend with) and open to all intelli¬ 
gence. Say to the unruly will that seems to want to go 
astray and separate itself from the all good, you are my 
good subject and want to be loyal to the I Am who rules. 
Teach it the truth and it is a mighty power for good. He 
who says I will know, I will do, always does it. I knew 
one who fainted at everything, and nothing, too. One 
day, when alone, the room was whirling and the chairs 
also; she rose from her chair, holding on to the arms, say¬ 
ing, I will not faint, I will not. You cannot do me harm. 
She did not faint. 

Cultivate a will that is unconquerable. I WILL is a 
creative force. You can create what you will. One writer 
has said it is the all of man. I know of two men whose 
farms were near each other. The first had the best farm 
and the best stock, the best fruit in the market, the best 
of everything—good health, too. He was asked how it 
was that he had the best of everything. He said, “God 
and I are partners. God does his part and I do mine.” 

The other farm bore very little fruit, and that of the 
smallest and most inferior sort. Why was this? The 
owner had such a withering thought that he not only 
withered his own body but withered his berries on the 
vines. Everything he possessed was of the same sort; 


WILL POWER. 


73 


his cattle were poor and unruly, his trees and ground re¬ 
fused to bear, and every machine broke down when he 
touched it. His whole farm was cursed. The air he 
breathed forth was filled with cursings. “ Bless and curse 
not.” The neighbors said, “ he has such poor luck.” 

Who made his luck? He, himself. He made himself 
and his farm just what they were. He reaped the fruit of 
his own thought. 

You can use your powers for good or evil. Take the 
good, assert your divinity, and will that you have the 
mind of Christ. 

Willing and working go hand in hand. What I work 
for I get. I believe in no salvation except that which I 
work out for myself. Christ’s dying will not save me, 
neither did He preach it. He showed us the way. We 
must be saved through the God power, the I Am within. 
If we have nothing to do, and Christ did it all, we are 
powerless and irresponsible creatures. 

No one will concede this for a moment. You are a re¬ 
sponsible being, and will find that Christ’s dying did not 
release you from any responsibility. You must work out 
your own salvation, so do not hypnotize yourself with the 
thought that you have nothing to do. 

A woman cured herself of rheumatism by taking hold 
of each finger that was swollen and saying, “ I just will 
not have it; I will not. I will have perfect fingers that I 
can use.” Now she has. She is well and strong in truth, 
while others have fallen by the wayside. 

Another wanted to subscribe for a science paper, but 
she had no money. She said, “ God, I must have it. 
My very desire shows that it is mine already. It is mine 
now.” The inner (God) can supply all the outer (man) 
asks for. That day a patient came in and asked for a 


74 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


treatment, for this the scientist received one dollar, and 
she obtained her paper. 

1 will , will bring you your needs. Do not sit down and 
say, I can’t pay my debts. “ Pay what thou owest.” You 
can pay every dollar that stands against your name, be it 
hundreds or thousands, by holding I Can; I Will. Go to 
w T ork with a vim, and the way will open. He who 
says, I will find a way out of this, or make one, always 
does it. 

Do not mind appearances. Look past them to the God- 
will within you, and go ahead. I know of one who paid 
every debt that stood against her name by holding fast to 
the truth. 

Continually ask for light, and ways will open that you 
little dreamed of, and all will be paid. 

We do not need stated times to do good, any more than 
we need stated times to sit in the silence. We can do 
good all the time and be the silence all the time, that is 
sending forth the good at all times and in all places. Any 
stated hour or any stated time, to sit in the silence gets 
to be monotonous. Why not be in the silence when you 
are washing dishes, sweeping the floor, in fact, doing any¬ 
thing your hands find to do, you can if you will. 

I know one lady who has had great illuminations 
when she was washing the dishes and also when she was 
at the washtub, or cleaning house, and another who 
healed a case when she was filling a lamp, with these 
words, “ Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” 

One pupil put it into music from the first lesson and 
treatment she took, and made a success of it. This truth 
stops not at anything, no door can be closed against it or 
against you, unless the individual closes it for himself 
for he has his hand on the knob and can open or shut to 
suit himself. 


WILL POWER. 


75 


If you open the door and invite this truth in and be¬ 
come receptive as a little child, you grow in stature and 
in favor with God and man, for truth makes a good and 
well developed body. You become vitalized with the 
force of your thought strengthened, deepened, renewed in 
every atom and fiber of yourself, but if you close the door 
you wither in mind and body, sick and troubled and then 
wonder why “ I am so afflicted, I mean to do what is 
right,” go back to your thought there is where the work 
is done. 

Assert your will power, have nobler desires, grander 
aspirations, and live up to them, and in living closer to 
your ideal every day, your life will begin to shape 
itself and you will prove these words true. Your thought, 
the background of your life, must be perfect ere the 
picture on the canvas can be perfection, or your ideal 
realized. 

Clean out your mental workshop of everything un¬ 
desirable, and put in all that every aspiring soul aims 
to be and your work will show to your credit, you are 
not working for the credit of the world or its praise, 
you are working for your own approval and the blessing 
of a clear conscience, that is all that is necessary. 


CHAPTER XV. 

CHARITY. 

“ In faith and hope the world will disagree, 

But all mankind’s concern is charity.”—Pope. 

I do not believe in the world’s conception of charity. It 
fosters selfishness of the worst sort. Selfishness must 
be dethroned. It is and has been our idol for ages, and 
we have worshipped it and made it our god. The more 
we can gain through it, the more powerful we are. 

“ Charity shall cover a multitude of sins.” Sin, which 
is an erring thought, must not be covered, but put out; 
for if you should presume to cover it in one place, it would 
surely break out in another. You might as well try to 
cover your sickness; you cannot do it and free yourself. 
The cause must be removed, then the healing will be per¬ 
manently done. 

Christ said ; “ Give, and it shall be given unto you, good 
measure, pressed down and shaken together and running 
over; for with the same measure that ye mete it shall be 
measured to you again.” What do these words mean to each 
of us as individuals? Are they just to the teacher and 
healer alone, or to the patient? 

Let us use common sense with science; they go beauti¬ 
fully together. It is always a good idea to keep a large 
stock on hand. It is useful in many ways. The patient 
cannot receive till he gives forth. It is utterly impossi¬ 
ble because it is not law. We forever sow before we can 
reap, and “he which soweth sparingly shall reap sparing¬ 
ly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bounti¬ 
fully.” 


CHARITY. 


77 


When man awakes and starts from his mental, or rather 
the spiritual side of his nature, or both, he will under¬ 
stand that this is'a practical application of the doctrines 
of Jesus Christ, not simply to be read, but used in 
every affair of life; and if we are in any business where 
we cannot use it, we would be wise to get out of it, for 
practical Christianity is true reformation of the soul. 

Selfishness, covetousness, is death in one form or an¬ 
other. It withers the body, draws it out of shape, dries 
up the blood, contracts the muscles in our limbs, and in 
our faces, and there is no relief till we let go the thou ght. 
If we do not we will let go our bodies. When your face 
or limbs are wrinkled and drawn you may know the con¬ 
dition of your mind. Arise at once and assert your divin¬ 
ity.. Awake to your God-power. 

The prevailing thought to-day that we can get some¬ 
thing for nothing is the worst form of error. It creates 
charity, almsgiving and pauperism. There is no differ¬ 
ence in bondage; you might as well be bound by one 
thing as another, and no difference in theft as to amount. 
It is a thieving thought that wants something for noth¬ 
ing, that does not want to give full value; and if you truly 
want to be healed you will gladly give value received. 
If you do not, you only hold your good from yourself. 

Everyone can give, be it much or little, and the little 
becomes much if it is all we can do. Give cheerfully, not 
grudgingly. Riches are of a divine order and God-given. 
Get the true riches and pass them on not by studying 
economy but generosity, giving on every hand either little 
or much. 

Law makes exact justice between man and man, and 
if the spirit is not quickened within us we shall have to 
start anew, for it is at the divine center that man must 


78 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


be aroused, and must cultivate an inexhaustible supply by 
holding to it and drawing forth from the universal store¬ 
house of the all-good, holding that the supply is here. 

My power balances all things for me; your power bal¬ 
ances all things for you. These things cannot be bal¬ 
anced in a half-hearted way. Be earnest and true, and 
balance your own account. 

Christ was the greatest banker on earth. He did not 
have His money in the First National Bank. He had it 
within Himself (where we all have it) and called it to 
Him when He needed it by His spoken word, just as we 
will do when we live the life as He lived it. 

God-man must have dominion, and if he has not he is 
not the God-man ; he is only the man, and lets what is his 
pass by on the other side of his nature. When he finds 
his God side he will receive his own. 

Demand value received from everyone. It sets in mo¬ 
tion new ideas of the life currents that will take root. I 
do not say it will, or e^en may, come back to you; but it 
will be passed on from the one you have demanded it of 
to the next and the next. “ The end is not yet.” 

To give, expecting nothing in return, is the sum total 
of selfishness. You give haphazard, like a man sow t - 
ing his seed all over the country—he “ sows to the wind 
and reaps the whirlwind,” or at least he will think the 
whirlwind has been there. 

Truth is really a self-sacrifice. By this I do not mean 
giving up any comfort that belongs to the children 
of an Almighty Power, like giving up good clothes and 
wearing poorer ones, but a self-sacrifice in giving up our 
idols for truth. Perhaps your idol is medicine, or “ my 
church,” or perhaps it is a husband, a wife or child that 
does not want you to think for yourself. I care not what 


CHARITY. 


79 


it is that is given up, one thing I do know — this truth 
that the Christ gave to us must be first . If your hus¬ 
band, wife, children or neighbors, like you any less for 
knowing and living the life of truth, heed them not, 
keep on. They will want it when they see you have 
something worth having. 

I know the truth comes home to us with a deeper mean¬ 
ing when we give up something that, at the time, was a 
real sacrifice. I know one who gave up her diamonds to 
be healed, and she was healed, too. Another gave up the 
money intended for a pair of shoes that she needed, to 
buy the first book on science she ever had. It was a real 
sacrifice, but she looks back to that day with a spirit of 
thankfulness. The shoes came later on, as everything 
that we need will. 

I worked nearly three years in this truth without charg¬ 
ing, but I no longer believe in “ free, treatments.” Patients 
receive the truth with a deeper and more lasting hold when 
they are willing to pay for it. I have never known a case 
where a patient paid what he could, that to-day is not liv¬ 
ing the truth and I know of many saying that they could 
not pay who are now doing just as Christ’s disciples did, 
“ going back to their fishing.” I believe it is right to 
charge a price that is within the limit of all, and in sev¬ 
eral years of experience in teaching and healing since 
then, I feel that I have proved that there is better satis¬ 
faction on the part of the patient when he gives what he 
can. 

I have answered letters from strangers asking for light, 
how to get rid of insects, how to be lifted out of unconge¬ 
nial work, though there was scarcely ever a stamp enclosed. 
I have talked with hundreds upon hundreds about this 
science and I have never once asked pay for doing 


80 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


it. Though believing it should be value received for ser¬ 
vices rendered, I would rather give mine to one who is 
able to pay than to turn one away who is not; for “ there 
is that scattereth and yet increaseth, and there is that 
withho’deth more than is meet, but it tendet h to poverty.” 
Good can only be received by the giving; this the patient 
wants to understand. Neither would I have it understood 
that this truth can be run on any commercial basis. I 
mean justice to all, by doing unto others as ye would that 
men should do unto you. 

I do not believe in cheap things; hunting day after 
day, spending your time and life force in getting some¬ 
thing that is cheap. You will find it dear before you get 
through. You are planting a cheap thought and the 
fruitage will be cheap. Instead of hunting for cheap¬ 
ness, had you hunted for richness you would have found 
that you had money to buy. 

Riches be'ong to you, and who is going to keep you out 
cf your own? Speak your riches to you. 

It is beautiful to know that no man can judge another. 
We judge ourselves by what we know we are. Therefore 
do not value your neighbor’s opinion; value your own- 
And to you who are planting seed after seed of the good? 
and do not see the fruit or receive it in your life, know T 
the words that Jesus Christ spoke are true: “ Herein is the 
saying true, one soweth, another reapeth.” Know that 
some one will reap what you have sown, and be satisfied. 

Sowing and reaping have been a great problem to 
me, but it has become plainer since I commenced this 
book, in these ^ery words of Christ. When you plant 
your seed thought and look for fruitage, and behold it not, 
just be thankful that He gave you the light of truth to 
plant it, and that it shall be harvested. 


CHARITY. 


81 


Real life commences when you dare to assert your in¬ 
dependence, and become an independent thinker, an in¬ 
dependent actor, and an independent liver in your own 
thought world. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

FREEDOM. 

“ Give me liberty or give me death.”—Patrick Henry. 

Every day we hear the clarion cry of freedom. Where 
does this call of truth, up and be free, come from? Straight 
from the heart of every deep thinker. And as it goes on 
from one to another, louder and still louder, it awakes the 
dead, and thousands are rising from their graves of error 
and are beginning to live, by beginning a new life. “ A 
new life is yours, and a new hope. Remember we build 
our own ladders to climb to the sky.” 

Freedom from all limitations, freedom for mind and 
body, is the cry of every heart, and we are trying to ob¬ 
tain freedom by building aright. 

We are building this temple of ours (the body) in 
silence, every moment, without the sound of the hammer 
being heard, and we can only build it right by using the 
right material. Every stone (thought) that we use must 
be sound and strong, and must be perfectly fitted and ad¬ 
justed to the next> and the next, till the whole structure 
stands complete. If there is one stone put in that is de¬ 
fective you will have to rebuild in order to make that part 
perfect. On one side of your temple, along some lines, 
the building may seem exceedingly grand and strong, that 
part which shows forth to the world; other parts may have 
become weakened and much defaced. On every line, in 
every part of your being the building must be perfect. 

Build from within. If you build from the outside, and 
leave the inside untouched and imperfect, you have a 
sandy foundation; and when the storms come, in the 


FREE-DOM. 


83 


shape of trials and discouragements, you are washed out 
in the current and beat about on every side, till you start 
anew and build from the divine center of your own soul. 
Then you are founded upon the solid rock of truth, where, 
if the rain descends and the floods come, u it shall not 
come nigh thee,” because you in your perfect temple are 
clothed from head to foot in an armour that is invisible, 
and also invincible. 

All encounter storms on life’s ocean ; but if your ship 
is staunch and the pilot (will) true to his post, you will 
anchor in safety. 

When Nehemiah was building the wall, he said to the 
messenger that had been sent to ask him to come down, 
“ I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. 

. Why should the work cease whilst I leave it and come 
down to you?” Those that have risen cannot come 
down, they can only help you up. He that has been 
resurrected from the tomb .of error can never go back. 
His work is to add his “ come forth” with the rest. 

In building the wall of Jerusalem “ the builders every 
one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded.” 
“ The sword of the spirit is the word of God.” St. Paul 
says, and, again, “the word of God is quick and 
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, a discerner 
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” 

We must be faithful in building this temple by keeping 
the sword of truth ever by us, ever looking to it as a dis¬ 
cerner of truth, and it will only find a lodgment with us 
as we are fitted to receive it. If we are not fitted to re¬ 
ceive the truth, we would not know or believe it when it 
comes and so let it pass by. 

We are to discriminate with accuracy on all subjects, 
all lines of thought; to guard against error, in what- 


84 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


ever guise it may appear. If we push our thought 
force in the right direction, everything- will adjust itself 
and harmony will be the result. To the degree that we 
are spiritually unfolded may we penetrate into the un¬ 
seen realm. Work in silence; the greater the power, the 
greater the stillness. It is said that no prophet was ever 
made save in stillness. The words that are expressed are 
always matured in thought; and as fast as one truth 
is established within, another is taking its place by forc¬ 
ing itself upon you. 

Whatever we think about we attract to us, or produce 
from within us, create; and the more we dislike anything 
the more quickly and surely do we attract it to us. 

We can renew our bodies by thinking right. Camille 
Flammarion, one of the greatest scientists, says that the. 
physical body can be reconstructed in less than one year, 
and some portions iu less than thirty days, by thought 
force alone. Cultivate intuition by claiming it is already 
yours. It is the connecting link between God and His 
children. It is a discerner of the truth. It is a power, 
and helps you to read thought as you look at one. Signs 
follow. Claim what you want, that it is now yours, and 
take the Master’s word, believe ye have already received. 
Do not drift or float. Get into the deep, swift, inner cur¬ 
rent of your soul and ask for wisdom. 

It will come for no one ever asked in vain. Many 
times have you asked help from man and been refused, 
but when you go to the God of your being that is forever 
renewing you w r ith new life, new hopes, new desires, new 
thoughts, that spring into life in deeds, then there is 
no failure. 

' Some speak of freedom as being free from sickness, 
just healing the body, that is only one point we have made 


FREEDOM. 


85 


Freedom not only means liberty but separation. Sepa¬ 
ration from what? From everything we do not want, 
from every ill that our bodies seem to be heir to, till we 
rise out of the thought that we do not inherit anything 
only from the eternal good, and can have freedom from 
every condition, not only freedom from poverty, troubles, 
anxiety, temper, lust, but freedom from the fear of all 
animals, freedom from the insect world that holds 
us today in its grasp; it, too, must be loosened. 

One writes: “ Can I be freed from bed bugs ? ” Another 
writes: “ The fleas almost kill me, I just as soon die.” 
Another one the moth troubles, “ Eating all I have.” 
Still, with another it is mice and with a host of others it 
is insects, bugs, worms, on their trees and vines eating 
and destroying everything within their reach. I quote 
again : “ Possums, skunks, rabbits, rats, have depleted 
my chicken house.” 

These things ought not so to be, should not be, and 
furthermore will not be when you know your power. 

When you think of an animal or an insect ruling you 
does it not seem absurd? You, God-man, God-woman 
that have been given dominion and still will not accept 
of it, will not realize your own power, but let an animal, 
bug or insect have dominion over you, just the same as 
you let worry, anxiety, trouble, poverty have dominion. 

Rise in your God power and have the mastery, say 
I am master of all conditions. I am master over my 
own animal nature. I am master over my own life, and 
when you are truly master of that you are master of 
all, you have mastered every condition I do not care 
what it is, you have mastered animals, bugs, insects, 
everything. Why ? Because you have first mastered 
yourself. 


86 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


Within yourself lies all mastery, all freedom, if you 
accept of it you have true dominion, freedom; the 
non-acceptance of it, the other party has it whether it is 
the ant or flea, take your choice but find no fault with 
another if they have mastered conditions, or animals, 
and say “it can’t be done” because you have not done it, 
or say “ why should you be more favored than I ?” 

Now, there is no favoritism in truth, if one lays hold of 
it with vigor, proves it, lives it, it is his; if another does 
not it is not his; it is the I and the Not I. You can be 
first or second, it lies with you, and you alone. Let us 
have freedom in its fullest measure, conquering every¬ 
thing by the one power, love. Love to all, animals, in¬ 
sects, everything. Love will master. 


CHAPTER XVII 

RICHES VS. POVERTY. 

’Tis not the acres one may own, 

’Tis not the gold he may possess, 

But ’tis the good he does alone 
That wins the price of blessedness. 

I think the question of poverty is facing almost every 
one who has started on the road to divine understanding. 
The thought of poverty creates not only disease but death. 
There is no question but that poverty is a deadly, death¬ 
dealing thought, and we, who have waked up to the eter¬ 
nal truth of ourselves, must not admit it to our own 
consciousness, or to that of our patient. 

Poverty is a disease. Why admit it any more or make 
of it any more, than you do of any other disease? A dis¬ 
eased thought expresses itself on the body, and ofttimes 
back of that disease is the thought of poverty and selfish¬ 
ness, and both are one. 

We give many times because we think it our duty, not 
because we love to, therefore, we give it grudgingly. <k God 
loves a cheerful giver,” whether his gifts be loving words, 
kind acts, or money. Love must accompany every gift 
if we would have an increase. Let selfishness accompany 
the gift and it decreases. Selfishness is the root of all er¬ 
ror, and it is so subtle that we do not perceive it oft- 
times. 

Many diseases have been healed by treating the patient 
against selfishness. A case of constipation of years’ 
standing was healed by denying selfishness and affirm¬ 
ing generosity; and the poverty thought can be healed by 
treatments against selfishness and fear, and by telling 


88 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


patients that they are unselfish, generous and true to 
truth. Some patients wake up quickly to the thought that 
God is their life, health and strength, but not to the 
thought that God is their wealth. If He is the former, 
He is the latter; for the same power that gave health can 
give amply to supply all needs. We do not have to ask 
one to give of his abundance to another. Christ did not 
when he fed the multitude. He asked God to supply His 
needs, and an abundance came. 

Every day we get our lessons if we would but heed 
them. One had asked acquaintances for help for a friend 
who was working her way along, slowly but surely, to a 
firm footing. She was refused that help, and, wondering 
what it could mean, as out of her storehouse she had 
given all she could, and there still was a lack, she went 
into the silence of her own soul and asked God. These 
words came plain and clear, “ You do not ask anyone to 
give of his health to another; you ask God. Why do 
you ask of his wealth to give to another? Ask God.” 
It was a lesson of deep import, no repetition was needed. 

We go to this supreme power for ourselves always, 
whether it be for health or wealth. Then go to the same 
power for the same things, for others. “ Give, and it shall 
be given unto you,” has a far deeper meaning than the 
giving of money alone. It means giving forth out of 
your storehouse of knowledge. Tell to others what you 
have proven true. Give forth and give forth, and the 
power will increase within you an hundred fold. Take 
nothing short of the hundred fold power, and if you will 
work for that alone you will get it. Say to this subtle, 
selfish thought, You are one of my good subjects and 
must be trained. I will give forth not only of my purse 
but of every power; I will give forth good. I will plant 


RICHES VS. POVERTY. 


89 


by the wayside and in the bypaths of life, though the 
road looks stony and bare. I will plant beside all waters. 
I will bless everyone and everything I meet. I will give, 
not because I am commanded to do it, but because I love 
to do it. By sowing broadcast I will increase my own 
store of knowledge, and bring all thoughts under subjec¬ 
tion to the I Am. 

“ Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.” 
Surely you are doing this in the stillness of your own 
room, in the silence of your own soul, as you speak the 
good to all the world; and it is one of the greatest privi¬ 
leges God ever gave to his children. 

You are alone just when you want to be, on the street 
car and in the greatest crowd alone with your God, alone 
with the Presence that you can talk to, and that can talk 
to you. If you have dropped a word (seed) that has 
opened the understanding of one who is on a lower round 
of the invisible ladder that the whole world is climbing, 
it is surely a “ word fitly spoken.” 

Never allow for one moment that your wisdom de¬ 
creases, or that your money does, for the world is full of 
everything we need; and by holding the thoughts of an 
increase, money will flow to you from every avenue. 

You can collect a debt by the power of thought, when 
all else has failed. Do not measure out any selfishness, 
any ill will, any criticism, any judgment, or anything that 
you do not want measured back to you. If any thought 
comes to you that you do not want, silence it by saying, 
“Shut right up!” 

Catarrh and lameness can be healed by treating 
against selfishness and for generosity. On retiring for 
the night send your blessing to every one, and more es¬ 
pecially to those whom you might have thought to have 


90 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


been your enemies. Put yourself in the power of the All- 
Good. and your dreams will be true; and when you have 
reached that state where you do not dream a thing that 
you would not do in your waking moments, you may 
know that you are on the right road to the truth that 
makes and brings you your freedom. 

Intuition is individualization. Without one you cannot 
have the other, for intuition is the fountain head of eter¬ 
nal life, where God supplies all force; and we get it un¬ 
adulterated. 

Concentrate, then, your mind on the power of good 
and do not let your good drift by you. Await the ever¬ 
present recognition of truth and the power of realiza¬ 
tion by a reliance upon yourself, which is of most vital 
importance. 

Drummond says, “ Every character has an inward 
spring, every action has a key note; let Christ (truth) 
set in.” 

Love is the secret of success, of power; you may have ful¬ 
filled every law but this—the law of loving — you can’t 
get over a seeming injustice that has been done you. “ I 
can forgive but I can’t forget,” both are one, if you have 
not forgotten you have not forgiven. I will tell you how 
to overcome it, lay everything to ignorance just say they 
do as well as they know how and later on you will find 
your words were true, that at the time of speaking you 
thought untrue, really they know not what they do, and 
if you know what you are doing, do right; that is for 
you alone to do. Now you may have overcome many 
conditions, many diseases and so many things in your 
on-going, but if you lack money; know the failure is in 
lack of love—therefore the lack of gold and silver. You 
may have thought you have overcome everything, have 


RICHES VS. POVERTY. 


91 


forgiven and forgotten, and indeed }mu have tried to, but 
try, try again, love on, love much. 

“Your heart will be led out to slaughter 
On altars built of envy and deceit.” 

You will find if you love on and are true to yourself? 
that is, your love never faileth, that you have gained 
friends in your enemies, and that, too, you have gained 
gold in your poverty. Do not look to any single person 
for your good, look to everyone; not to one avenue for 
the good to flow to you, but to every avenue. Do not 
say I expect it here, or I expect it there — expect it from 
here, and there, and everywhere, from the universal 
store-house of the all good. 

Divine love is a magnet to draw your good to you; 
money that supplies your needs, whatever they may be. 
Love and plenty go together, where there is a supply of 
one there is also a supply of the other. This I have 
proven, let each one prove it for herself or himself. Prove 
all things, hold fast that which is your good. Be true to 
yourself and true riches are yours. 


CHAPTER XVIir. 

ANXrETY AND WORRIMENT. 

“ Take no anxious thought.” 

Worry and anxiety do not manifest on all persons in 
the same form. To one they will give a most severe 
cold, to another, neuralgia, to another, peritonitis, and so 
on according to the organism of the person. One never 
can tell what a wrong thought can do, how much suffer¬ 
ing in mind and body it can cause. After all your worry 
you have succeeded only in injuring yourself. 

“ Take no anxious thought. ’ By not heeding these 
words you put yourself in such a condition that you do 
not get out of it till you have paid the 1 ‘ utmost farthing.” 
Sometimes it is with going out of life ; sometimes it is with 
years of sickness. 

Worriment and anxiety cause mental drunkenness, and 
it is wor.-e by far than physical drunkenness, because they 
who drink liquor sober up some time. Settle it with 
yourself. Does worriment do you any good? If not, 
stop it. In several years of work I have had more cases 
caused by these two conditions, and selfishness, than by 
any other. 

Worriment, anxiety and selfishness are our subjects, 
and will rule us every time unless we take a firm stand 
and put them out. Say at once, I will not have you 
rule me. I will have peace and harmony within myself. 
I will not worry or be anxious about money matters 
—my debts, or my health. I will have peace and be free 
from it all. 

Any who have been under mental training can keep 


ANXIETY AND WORRIMENT. 


93 


still on the outside, even when they think they have been 
insulted; but it is really the smallest part of ou r 
mental work. There is a deeper thought back of this 
that you have to encounter if you would command and 
dethrone unruly subjects. It is the seething and boiling 
on the inside that must be stilled. Turmoil must cease. 
There must be peace within before any advancement can 
be made. We cannot master ourselves, and certainly 
nothing else, when there is a volcano within ready to 
burst forth and destroy everything within its reach. 
Hold these words: Peace, peace, God is here. 

Every one knows that a good general will fight his bat¬ 
tle on the battle ground. If he runs he acknowledges de¬ 
feat, and the enemy has the advantage. This is just the 
way with us all; if we run from one trial.that seems to 
be in our path we will meet another one, as we turn, that 
looms up greater still. Face about, and do not run. Mas¬ 
ter yourself then and there, for the foes, the battle and 
the victory are all within yourself. Overcome, instead 
of being overcome by seeming difficulties. 

We have had mutiny and rebellion in our camp. We 
have hatred and revenge in our hearts. They must be 
dethroned and love enthroned then peace will abide. 

You will never get out of any place you are in by hat¬ 
ing it. If you do, when another place materializes, it 
will only be a harder one to pull out of. The right way 
to come out of any situation that you do not like is to 
put love in it, and to do your work just as well as you 
can; the way will be opened by unseen forces that are 
ever working with you, and for you, for your freedom. 
Every burden, every trial, every discouragement, and every 
painful experience can be made a stepping stone to 
higher attainments if you will. If in the bitter trial 


94 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


that seems hardest for you to endure, you will take the 
stand that only good shall come out of it, to you, you will 
get it; for even the universe is under obligations to return 
to you what you demand. You cannot judge by the ap¬ 
pearance and call it good—all real is good, and your good 
will come if you take this stand with the calm assurance 
that you have the power to master. Then take all exper¬ 
iences that you are passing through as a part of your un- 
foldment, and as each one is unfolding in a different way, 
what would be truth to one would not be to another till 
he had unfolded to it. 

Lay down all burdens, whatever they may be. Infinite 
Mind is not a burden bearer and you cannot be one with 
God and bear burdens. Truth will carry you through 
any financial problem, or anything else, if you will trust 
it, and wait patiently, for sometimes it takes long for the 
seed to root and the fruit to mature. 

The worst case of peritonitis that ever came to me was 
caused by financial worriment. It was healed quickly by 
denying worry and anxiety and affirming peace and har¬ 
mony. Worriment, hurt feelings and prejudice will even 
cause corns and bunions. 

We only give these experiences to show what the power 
of God is, and what it can do, and will do for you if you 
will let it. Let every faculty be controlled by the divine 
Master Hand. 

I give an instance where idols were worshiped un¬ 
consciously. How often selfishness predominates in our 
natures till we overcome it with truth! A dear friend 
who knew of the truth, and believed in it, would have 
lived it but for her family. They were bitter against it 
and would not allow her to speak of it. She in her sel¬ 
fishness (though she thought it unselfish) listened to her 


ANXIETY AND WORRIMENT. 


95 


husband and children more than she did to her own soul, 
and thus forfeited her life. To-day her family mourn her 
loss which was caused by their selfishness. She w r as 
their idol, too. Had she stood firm and been self-assert¬ 
ive and said, “ I am my own master. I will not allow 
any one to rule my life,” she would be here today. 

Let there be a self-examination and without humility. 
We have no right to beg, but to assert that we know and 
have the power within, which is immeasurable and im¬ 
perishable. 

Concentrate yourself with one mighty effort to un¬ 
derstand yourself. Do not try to understand any one else, 
or God even, for when you find yourself the rest is 
done. Then you have found your own fountain and are 
drinking from its living waters. I WILL is a liberating 
force. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

. “ ALL IS FREE ” AND “ ALL IS GOOD.” 

He wins the most enduring fame, 

Who writes his name on honor’s page, 

And leaves behind a much loved name, 

That is the grandest heritage. 

The maxim, “ All is free and all is good,” has not the 
foundation of solid truth, it is not the principle from 
which we start work, if we would make perfect demonstra¬ 
tions. Only from the basic principles of truth can we 
get truth. This alone will bring us the right result. Say¬ 
ing a thing many times and hypnotizing yourself into 
thinking it true, will not make it true. Truth cannot be 
changed. From premise to result, the problem must be 
worked right; each figure must be placed just where it 
rightfully belongs; not where you think it belongs, but 
where you can prove it does. The foundation must be 
solid or the whole structure is rickety and sooner or later 
will fall. 

The question has been asked many times why some 
scientists do good work for a while and then fail. They did 
not work from principle; if they had, they could not have 
failed. There is no failure there, it is in the worker alone. 
In our school life we go to work, pencil in hand, to do 
a long problem. It takes hours of hard work, and with 
every figure we think we are nearing the right result, but 
often we do not get it. We have nqt worked according to 
principle, hence the wrong result. 

“ All is free!” There is not one thing in the universe 
that is free to us. We work for all we have, or we do not 
get it. We work to walk, eat, see, hear, breathe, think 


“all is free” and “all is good.” 


97 


and live. “ Faith, if it has not works, is dead, being 
alone.” “ I will show thee my faith by my works.” “ My 
Father worketh hitherto and I work.” These words 
plainly show that we must work to gain anything in life. 
The air we breathe is not free to us unless we do our part 
to breathe it and live. If we do not work we shall get 
left somewhere along the journey. The sun shines for 
all, but if you want the benefit of its warmth you will 
have to do your part to get in it, and receive it. You 
can breathe a little air, or receive a little of the warmth 
of the sun, or the greatest amount of both. 

Truth itself is only free to those who lay hold upon it 
with vigor and determinatiou to know it, to be it. 
Whatever we -have in this truth, we have worked 
for night and day. Our faithfulness shows what plane 
we are on. We are developed according to our faithful¬ 
ness to our work. 

If we are not faithful, our work, our bodies, our circum¬ 
stances show it. Actions ( fruits ) speak if life does not 
bear the right kind, it can be made to do so by constant 
working. From within, we master. 

Christ fed the multitude. He did not go to the rich 
and say “ All is free,” and take their bread to feed them, 
or even ask for it. He did say “ the truth will make 
you free,” and before you can get the truth that does make 
you free you must work for it. 

Let no one hypnotize himself by using these words 
“ all is free,” and take liberty with what does not belong 
to him. It w T ould make trouble and we are told “ to avoid 
the very appearance of evil.” Until we do avoid it, we 
are not living the highest. 

In the same way they have used the words “ All is 
good ” till they have swallowed everything that has come 


98 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


along, and called it good. Good does not, and cannot 
change. One’s idea of good might be very different from 
another’s idea of good. To each it is only man’s opin¬ 
ion of good, not what good is, and man’s opinions are 
widely diversified. 

Emanuel Swedenborg says, “ It is no proof of a man’s 
understanding to be able to affirm whatever he pleases, 
but to be able to discern that what is true is true, and 
that what is false is false, this is the work and character 
of intelligence.” We must be able to discern the truth 
for ourselves, for the soul of man is a receiver, a revealer^ 
and an applier of truth. 

Each one knows the truth from his soul, and not from 
another’s idea. What a person wants to do and takes 
pleasure in doing he calls good. A man drinks, and fights 
and calls it good, therefore he feels justified in so doing. 

Patients will go to a healer for everything, and 
for nothing, too, and call it good. Others go within and 
call that good. Christ, our teacher, did not say “ All is 
good,” but denounced hypocricy and all other sins face to 
face, and in the strongest terms did He condemn all 
error. 

By this we are not to call evil good or good evil. 
Separate them; they are the tares and the wheat; 
they grow together, but the growing together will not 
make the wheat tares or the tares wheat. Each will 
follow its own nature and forever be the same. 

Some write “ All is free,” and charge the highest price 
for their book. If they did truly believe all is free they 
would practice it, and send out their book free or at least 
put the price down so that the poor could have the bene¬ 
fit of “all is free.” 

We do not speak of this condemningly, but it is very 


J 


“all is free” and “all is good.” 


99 


obvious to the onlooker that there is a vast difference of 
opinion in regard to freedom and goodness. When we 
get down into the undercurrent of true thought we will see 
ourselves as others see us. 

“ The same fountain cannot send forth sweet and bitter 
water.” Christ said, “ Ye shall know them by their 
fruits.” By no other way can you be known. Again, 
“ Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt 
tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” 

The pure essence of spirit, real goodness, is changeless 
and eternal. 

Charles Filmore has struck the keynote; “ The good 
is unchangeable, hence these things that appear good can 
not be good in the sense that God is good. They are 
simply man’s idea of good, and so his creations will al¬ 
ways be until he enters into that full co-partnership with 
God where there is no difference of opinion whatever as to 
the pattern after which things shall be made.” 

“Metaphysicians have so thoroughly trained them¬ 
selves to say ‘ all is good,’ that they gulp down all the 
unsavory messes of carnality and think they are in duty 
bound to swallow them without a grimace. We differ 
very radically from those who mesmerize themselves into 
mental torpor by continually holding the thought that all 
is good, and applying it indiscriminately to all that ap¬ 
pears. 

“ Remember that man makes all appearance and names 
it good or evil according to the pleasure it gives him. 
God furnishes the raw material as it were, out of which 
these appearances are formed, and this is always good, 
because its pure essence cannot be polluted. If man com¬ 
bines the life, love, substance and intelligence of princi¬ 
ple in such a way that discord results, let him not lay it 
unto God.” 


100 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


Here is another remark, or rather a statement, of some 
scientists that I wish to touch upon, “ What you see in 
others is all within yourself. ,, There could not be a 
greater falsity uttered. It is really “ vicarious atone¬ 
ment,” and that was supposed to end wfcen science 
struck the world. It has been revived under an as¬ 
sumed name. These words have given many a soul an 
added burden, to tell them it is all within themselves 
when an unkind act has been done them or they have 
seen wrong in others and all have plenty of trouble without 
an addition. If some one does you an injury, the fault is 
within yourself. If some one comes to you diseased, un¬ 
clean, why you are the one. If these things were true it 
would be “vicarious atonement,” assuredly. We will 
again take Christas our example, and we had better reach 
Him ere we undertake to make laws or lay down 
rules that He did not make. Was Christ a thief 
because He was crucified between two of them? Was He 
a hypocrite because He saw and denounced hypocricy? 
Was He a leper because He healed leprosy? Did He fall 
from His high estate when they brought one that was im¬ 
pure to Him? A thousand times, No! 

Look well to what you utter, for your words recoil upon 
yourself. Be warned, for the misuse of any power that 
is given, will recoil with misery upon the one misusing 
it. Do not add another burden to your already burdened 
heart by taking any one’s wrong acts upon yourself, 
and condemn yourself for an injustice done you by another. 
Here are more idle words as well as untrue ones that will 
have to be rooted out and replaced by truth. Scientists 
say to their patients, speaking of their husbands ( and 
meaning nothing unlawful) “ He is just as much my hus¬ 
band as he is yours,” and of their children, “ They are 


“all is free” and “all is good.” 


101 


just as much my children as yours.” Can a true man be 
a husband to more than one woman? Can a true woman 
have more than one husband? And the children they 
call into expression are theirs, not yours or mine. 

Take the Christ principle as the standard, and you will 
never fail in knowing right from wrong. We must not 
lose by our false words the hold upon truth, the invisible 
power. It must be increased by self-knowledge, preced¬ 
ing true statements, true affirmations, which give a clearer 
spiritual perception. 

It is only through fearlessly abiding by what one 
knows that he can be true to himself or to others. The 
spirit of independence, our own individuality, is a price¬ 
less jewel to each. Fidelity to the principle as we see it 
demands and commands success. We have but a faint 
glimmer of what the truth will reveal to our souls if we 
but live up to our own light and keep it burning with the 
brightness of the noonday sun. We need not be tossed 
on the sea of circumstances, and turned hither and 
thither by the waves of doubt. We are our own pilot 
and the same power that sent us here will guide us safely 
into port. Dare to fearlessly stand alone. Dare to be 
yourself. Dare to have an aim in life. Dare to give it 
forth. 


CHAPTER XX. 


REST. 

“ O, to know the worth of living. 

To be earnest in the strife, 

Living grandly, nobly, truly, 

Making sweeter, better life." 

The time is coming, and even now is, when man will 
think more and work less, more active with his thought 
and less with his body. In doing so he will not only 
gain in wisdom, but in wealth, using his thought the 
electrical current of life, far more potent because invisi¬ 
ble. His work then will be done on the inner plane, and 
done without labor. He will rest in his work, rest in his 
own spoken word, for our best and real work is done in 
silent moments. Then we will not labor, only work. 
Christ made a distinction between the two, and it is plain¬ 
ly apparent to those who know the power of thought. 
Truth is only seen by him who is searching for it, search¬ 
ing within himself to find the lost, therefore unused, fac¬ 
ulties and put them to use. 

We think that we lose when we sit in the silence, the 
stillness; and that we have not the time to commune 
with our own souls, but we gain much by so doing, and it 
puts us on the right road for true progression. It gives us 
strength and we are surely being “endued with power 
from on high.” And we are told to tarry till we receive 
it, power from the Father within! That is all strength, all 
wisdom, all peace, all love. 

When love is deep and broad, it will of itself flow to 
the whole world, and will help the poor and strengthen 
the weak. If they are not up to your stage of develop- 


REST. 


103 


ment, you should know they are doing the best they can, 
working their problem of life as they see it. Let help be 
given just the same, for Christ himself did not ask if 
anyone was worthy. He fed and healed them. He said, 
“ Whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in 
heaven, the same is my no other, and sister, and brother.” 
All sprang from the same fountain—father, mother, God. 

We alone have made the distinction ( caste) the idol 
that will have to be dethroned. 

If mankind thinks of a far away, outside, austere 
God and expects to meet Him after the change called 
death, and to square accounts and squeeze into that out¬ 
side heaven that the same austere God presides over, his 
God and his heaven profit him not while here. His God 
is “ away over there,” as Moses said to the children of 
Israel, and will always remain over there till he realizes 
what Christ told us, that the “ kingdom of God is within 
you.” Our God is near, and a “ very present help in time 
of trouble,” and we can speak to this intelligence, this 
presence, and know that help w r ill come while we speak. 

Right here lies our power, asking and receiving at the 
same moment. 

Say within yourself, wisdom I now have, and all that I 
need in Ire to make it grand and noble, to make it a pure 
example, to make it true, is mine. All things are mine 
that I can attract to me by the power of love. You can¬ 
not attract anything that belongs to another. Each at¬ 
tracts his own, and what belongs to you will gravitate to 
you without worry, hurry or fretting, and those whom you 
can help will come to you for it. 

We are attuned to each other like harps, though some 
may be far, far in advance of others. 

“ Let there be light, and there was light.” The word, 


104 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


your word spoken by your God, “ the word was with God, 
and the word was God.” 

Rest for our souls! Rest from this ceaseless toil! Rest 
from trouble and from strife! Rest from burden bearing! 
Rest from our labors! But where is this rest for which 
each soul is hunting? Within. 

But how can the poor rest within, without shelter, food 
or clothes? Then is the time to find rest within; and by 
the power of your spoken w rd bring to you your needs. 
Let each one who stands in need, assert that he has now 
the God power within him to call food, shelter or clothes 
to him and he will do it. Son of God in the flesh, you 
will never starve when you know the marvelous power of 
your divinity. Food will come, rent will come, debts will 
be paid. Wake up to your latent powers and arouse your 
dormant forces within you, and command them by your 
word. 

I WILL is the God element in you. Hold ever to the I 
WILL. Never succumb to the “ I can’t,” and the possi¬ 
bilities that seemed away off and not for you will unfold 
and reveal themselves to your understanding, and you 
will know your own power, and with this power you will 
heal the sick and lift up the fallen without feeling con¬ 
taminated by their touch, or the world’s criticism. 

You can be living, just existing, and not alive, and you 
are, when you let any one do your thinking for you. This 
is mental laziness which no one ought to tolerate or pity 
The shame of it! A hypnotic sleep that will let you doze 
off your life, aimless and useless! 

Mental science, or the science of life, will wake you up 
some day with such force and power that it is doubtful 
if you ever sleep again. If you should, you have not 
been hit hard enough, and you will get another bounce 


REST. 


105 


that I do not think will let you doze off again; you will 
become wide awake in earnest, and not only awake, but 
working with every force that is yours, fully alive to your 
own power. 

What makes a good lawyer? Practice. A good musi¬ 
cian? Practice. A good linguist? Practice. A good sci¬ 
entist? Practice. The name scientist means nothing un¬ 
less scientists practice what they preach. Practice by 
making a perfect mold and molding your model. 

Man is creative; his thoughts become things expressed. 
His thoughts are both a solvent and a solidifier. Dissolve 
your own limitations that your own thought has solidified, 
and know that you are free. Speak out the truth today as 
you see it. Do not care if to-morrow you have to change all 
you have said, you are growing, you see truth clearer. 
Truth is changeless, but you are advancing. Be bold and 
strong for the truth as you see it, and every moment look 
for more. Speak it, for we have known of words spoken 
on the street to change the whole current of a life. 

Speak it boldly to the whole world, but speak to your¬ 
self first of rest, of peace, of quietitude, a spiritual repose 
that takes no anxious thought about anything, but rests 
in its own spoken word. In a state of unrest you are in 
no condition to cope with your own affairs of life, for tur¬ 
moil within bears the same fruit outwardly. If you could 
understand that the restful repose of your mind will 
change every affair of your life and your business rela¬ 
tions grow better. Wouldn’t you do it? Try it and see. 

Your children will be educated, your home paid for, 
your debts canceled, and the hard conditions of life would 
give place to happiness and joy and you would feel within 
yourself I am glad I live, instead of feeling life a burden. 

You live moment by moment, make each one count for 


106 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


your good by putting away every thought of care, trou¬ 
ble, anxiety, worry, but Rest, Rest from it all. Let it be 
the stillness of the soul, the silence of God and the work 
is done that troubled you.. In your keeping still the spirit 
ever active could work. You opened the way by being 
care-less and closed it by being care-ful. Find the 
difference between the two and profit by it. 


CHAPTER XXL 

LOVE IS THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW. 

A godly life of noble deeds, 

A life of love, of pea$e and prayer, 

This is the life that ever succeeds 
And blesses the worker everywhere. 

The law of God, which is immutable, cannot be fulfilled 
in our lives till we love ALL,—all men, all animals, all 
things. Love is power. Love is strength. Love is life. 
Love is a messenger of light. It is a vital force and will 
endure when all else fails. When love fills every atom of 
our being we will attract, call forth love from all. Even 
animals will love us instead of fearing us. 

If every home was filled with love there would be bet¬ 
ter fathers, better mothers and a thousand times better 
children. It is love that all the world is wanting. They 
are hungering and thirsting after love. If man loved his 
brother man, he would not defraud or injure him. If man 
loved his wife he would be true to her. If the wife loved 
her husband she would be faithful to him. If parents 
loved their children they would hold them in love; and if 
children loved their parents they would love to be held 
and feel no restraint. If man loved his sister he would 
never wrong her, and become a partner in a sin where SHE 
alone is called the guilty one. If woman loved her sister 
she would never wrong her in thought, word or act. 

The lack of love has made the world what it is to-day, 
half living in luxury, the other half living in poverty. 

“ Love is strong as death.” “ Love worketh no ill.” 
“ Love your enemies.” “Owe no man anything but love.” 
If we only knew that we owed no man anything but love, 


108 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


there would be no State prisons or insane asylums; there 
would be no need of them; there would be no murders.no 
hangmen, no thieves, no unholy and unlawful desires. 

Love is purity, and purity of thought brings purity of 
action. We need more love for the whole world. And 
how hungry souls are for love! The master said: “ If your 
son ask bread will ye give him a stone?” When poor 
souls come, almost broken-hearted with burdens “ griev¬ 
ous to be borne,” ( and whoever overcame burdens but 
thought theirs were the hardest?) do not tell them, “ you 
have what you deserve; you sowed it.” Take them in 
your strong arms of love. Love them back to health and 
peace. Tell them how to cultivate love, to be love. 

Love is the “chief corner stone.” It sweeps every thing out 
of its way. Nothing can stand before it. It is the holy 
fire, burning on the altar of truth, consuming all error 
and leaving us purified by the white light of understand¬ 
ing. Truly it is master of all. 

We can cultivate love by loving, by thinking love to 
every one we meet. This will call forth love in return. 
To say, “ I love you,” to all will cost you an effort, hav¬ 
ing lived in the thought of enemies so long, but it will 
change them into friends, and is worth trying. 

‘ ‘ The wise men ask what language did Christ speak 
They cavil, argue, search and little prove. 

0 sages, leave your Syriac and your Greek, 

Each heart contains the knowledge that you seek. 

Christ spoke the universal language, love.” 

The world has made the mistake and calls it by another 
name. 

Love is divine, is holy, and true to its love. There is a 
marked difference between “ falling in love” and loving. 
If a man “falls in love” he will sacrifice her whom he 


LOVE IS THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW. 


109 


thinks he loves for himself, but if he truly loves he will 
sacrifice himself for her. 

When we are filled and thrilled with love no one can 
work us an injury. Love is a protecting power, and the 
wrong that was intended for us, will fall powerless by 
our side. 

Hurt feelings, when we think some one has done us a 
wrong, will cause the body to contract, and feel withered 
within; but if the injury comes when you are filled with 
love your body will broaden out, expand, and you will act¬ 
ually seem to grow. Nothing moves you. Man is crowned 
king, and his first conquest is over himself. Then life will 
not be a hurry and bustle, and a striving to see how much 
you can gain ; but rather how much you can do, how well 
you can live. Make your life grand and successful by 
setting your mark for the highest and being true to your¬ 
self. 

“ Some feet will tread all heights now unattained. 

Why not thine own? Press on, achieve, achieve!” 

“ Keep my sayings,” Christ said. Identify them with 
yourself by use until you become one with them, and 
many things will be revealed to you' that you thought 
were hidden, and only known to adepts, mystics or ad¬ 
vanced teachers. You have the same truth that all 
have had to work with, and the very desire and earnest¬ 
ness that you have shown proves it is for you. 

You are one with the Infinite. Think of what we are, 
and what we might be if we would see ourselves in the 
light of truth, divine, deathless, immortal! When we 
consider now, the great forever, we will work to this end, 
and not for some far away future existence. If it has 
been an endless past, it must be an endless future, and all 
things will unfold to you as fast as you are ready to re- 


110 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


ceive them, for the spirit of truth teaches us all things. It 
will bring all things to our remembrance and light up 
the pathway in our ongoing step by step. If we but take 
that step with firmness, holding to the words, I KNOW, 
the next will be shown us. Assert your divinity, and, 
true to the law of your being, all things shall be revealed 
to you. 

By training yourself and believing your own words you 
can prove all things for yourself, the only proof you can 
have. When you understand that everything has life you 
will speak to that life which is intelligent or it would not 
be life. You will not abuse a machine because it will not 
run good, or a fire because it will not burn quickly, or a 
hundred other things that you do, every day blaming 
everything because it does not go right when it is 
yourself that don’t go right. Everything follows your 
example and goes right when you do, freedom from with¬ 
in brings freedom from without. How many times have 
you condemned some parts of your body such as “ My old 
head,” “ my lungs are no account,” “ my miserable liver 
it don’t act at all.” I am sure I do not see how they 
should after your condemnation of them. 

Now, suppose you change around and bless every 
part of your body, bless everything you eat, every¬ 
thing you touch, bless everything you come in contact 
with and see what a difference it makes in your life. 

Blessings unfold you and build your character, and 
when you see a truly gigantic and noble nature, you will 
hear only blessings and praise, blessings beget blessings, 
love begets love, and goodness only receives goodness, like 
attracting, producing, begetting and receiving the same 
Then speak good, and the good will respond. Bring out 
your love power, the God power of yourself, and behold 


LOVE IS THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW. 


Ill 


what a power you have when you live in unity with the 
creation and Creator of the universe. “ Mark the perfect 
man and behold the upright for the end of that man is 
peace . 11 

Speak peace to yourself, to animals, insects and to 
everything in the universe, your own will return aud also 
accomplish that where unto you sent it. Love much. 
Look for the kingdom of heaven where Christ told you, 
and regulate it there, and the outside world will take on 
the harmony of the inside universe. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

THE SEX QUESTION. 

What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how 
infinite in faculty! in form or moving how express and 
admirable! inaction how like an angel! in apprehension 
how like a God'.—Shakespeare. 

As the sex question has received so much attention by 
well-known authors, the consideration which it receives 
here will be but brief. All are helping to point the way 
to settle this question, but it will only be settled perma¬ 
nently when each one settles it for himself, within his 
own soul; and when he settles it THERE there will be 
no demanding and the supply will cease to be. Then the 
white light of purity will present itself with an overshad¬ 
owing presence. 

Love, which is a powerful subject, the greatest power in 
all of our kingdom, has been perverted into lust. It has 
spent its force in riotous living till the world has been 
drawn into a whirlpool of vice, misery and degredation. 
The innocent have suffered with the guilty. We are so 
closely connected with our fellow man that any thought 
we hold, either for good or bad, affects the whole world, 
either elevating it or pushing it downward to the depths 
of hell. You cannot wrong yourself without wronging 
another, neither can you wrong another without wronging 
yourself. Be wise and lift yourself out of this dark pit, 
for it is the darkest pit the world has to contend with and 
it leads to moral blight which is death. 

Children have a God-given right to be born right, not 
to be born under mistakes or accidents, or under pre-natal 
influences that will show forth later in crime. Is it right 


THE SEX QUESTION. 


113 


that they should suffer punishment for what was entailed 
upon them ere they saw the light of day? Let them be 
brought into existence by love alone, love that wants 
them and calls them here to love. Then we shall not need 
state prisons or reform schools. The reform will come in 
the parents where it should ever come. Here again is 
where the innocent suffer with the guilty. The husband 
calls for purity in a wife; let him bring purity to her. 
He calls for faithfulness; let him bring faithfulness to 
her. Whatever one calls for in another, let him give. Let 
the same code of morals exist for man as for woman, and 
they will restrain themselves and turn this mighty force 
into a higher life. This perverted power that has sat en¬ 
throned for ages will be dethroned and right will rule. 

A true marriage is something higher and holier than 
the world sees it to-day. The minister pronouncing the 
marriage formula will not make it a true marriage. The 
God-given, divine law of purity, chastity, is not to be set 
aside by a minister. Though he pronounces his benedic¬ 
tions he cannot legalize indulgences that are unholy, un¬ 
righteous, though it be in a lawful marriage. Let each 
one be honest with the other before marriage. Tell each 
other your views, aims and objects in life. See if you 
agree. See if you understand each other. See if you are 
willing to live for each other, and work together in a life 
of love. It would save a misunderstanding and a divorce 
later. In a holy marriage children are begotten in love 
that says “ not that I have to, but that I will.” Then they 
are welcome to your arms and the Christ child is born. 

A mutual understanding before marriage would bring 
a co-operation, a divine life that calls for the highest and 
holiest, no unholy desires, for our thoughts would be dis¬ 
ciplined and kept pure. Then we would hold our bodies 


114 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


as sacred, every organ, every power as a holy trust from 
God alone, and not waste our life forces, either within or 
without the marriage bond. 

We should be self-assertive, resolute, positive, and make 
every power subservient to the Christ truth which will 
ever guide us if we will commit every power, every 
thought to it. 

Self training is positively a necessity. All are our sub¬ 
jects and we can rule them if we will, not by condemning 
any part of our bodies, but by teaching it the right way. 
We never should be ashamed, or condemn, or think 
wrongly of our creative energy or force, but hold every 
function of the body as a sacred trust from the Supreme 
Giver of all gifts. 

If it is wrong to condemn the eye for seeing, or the 
ear for hearing, then it is most assuredly wrong to con¬ 
demn any other power; if one is God-given all are. Every 
power should be alive with the life of God, and we should 
show forth a well rounded healthy body in every part. 
You can dethrone the idol lust, by being true to your 
higher self. Then marriage will become holy, pure, and 
not in name only, but in truth. 

“ One sprung from light, and one from darkness grew. 

How dim the vision that confounds the two.” 

The world is longing for something it has not found, 
for the soul is ever yearning for something higher, some¬ 
thing beyond; even the promised land which lies within 
our consciousness, where the fountain sends forth pure, 
spotless waters of life that flow ceaselessly onward to meet 
the sea of infinite love. 

My brother, think on, work on, and do not be discour¬ 
aged if at times you slip and fall, and it seems that you 


THE SEX QUESTION. 


115 


are mastered, instead of being the master. Rise to your 
feet, count not your fall; it is past. Assert your man¬ 
hood, your God-hood, and you will win and bless the day 
you started to overcome a perverted power that has led 
you into many bypaths of sin. 

“ Trust in thine own untried capacity, as thou wouldst 
trust in God himself.” 

Fathers, mothers, tell your children what they ought to 
know at an early age. Do not let any one else do what 
God has given you to do by giving you the children. 
Plant the right seed before the enemy can plant the 
wrong. Tell them the truth of their being; answer their 
questions truthfully, and they will ever go to you for 
light. You will save them, and yourself, many a heart 
pang if you do. Do not teach one thing to the boy, an¬ 
other to the girl; teach them the same. If a thing is 
wrong for one, it is wrong for the other. Tell them why. 
Be true to them and to yourself. 

Do not try to hide behind these words “ they are too 
young,” as many do, no one can be too young to be told 
the truth. It is because you do not speak the truth to 
your children and hide it from them that the greatest 
wrong is done them. Your own girls have suffered un¬ 
told misery for not being told what they ought to know, 
what was their right to know, boys as well. Better speak 
the truth at once, and teach them the knowledge that be¬ 
longs to them by their divine right of living and by your 
divine right of calling them here. 

You have no right to call children here, unless you give 
them the true teachings of divine motherhood and fath¬ 
erhood. Do not be surprised if you tell an untruth to your 
children that they return it to you. A new life is unfold¬ 
ing to them, let it unfold in an atmosphere of truthfulness 


116 


IDOLS DETHRONED. 


and love. I know of pure, sweet, dear blessed mothers 
who talk to their boys and girls as they would to a sister, 
and those same boys and girls are going to make true 
fathers and true mothers. True reformation must exist 
in the parents ere the children can take their stand in a 
life of purity, like produces like. No ideal can be too high 
for a true woman or a true man. 

Woman’s true liberation and advancement are in her 
own hands to-day; let her use her stronghold of purity and 
she lifts mankind up to her standard, to heights of dig¬ 
nity and purity that in no other way can they be reached. 
Stamp purity in your soul and call for the same stamp in 
man. Give purity and love to him receive nothing less 
from him , and the ideal marriage consummated on this 
plane will revolutionize the world. Your secret idea of 
true womanhood, motherhood, gives birth to the unfold¬ 
ing idea within you, it is conceived and nourished and re¬ 
ceives from you moral, mental and spiritual training 
thereby making and molding the future race, the elevation 
of humanity. When woman takes this stand, man knows 
that the wife he wants depends wholly upon himself. Re¬ 
straining himself and bringing forth grander and greater 
possibilities that are his, being true to himself, he will 
dive into the depth of his true manliness, his own divine 
nature and bring to the surface the same purity he calls 
for from the mother of his children, not “ that the fath¬ 
er’s have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth have 
been set on edge,” but rather that the fathers have disci¬ 
plined themselves and the children have partaken of the 
same thought. Let the wise read between the lines, and 
let each be true to themselves. Be patient, persistent and 
positive. You will win. 


THE END. 


I give my whole time to this Science of Life. 
Teaching , Healing , Giving Present and Absent 
Treatments in this Country and also in Europe 
by the power of the Spoken Word. 

Terms given on application. 

Address , 

FLORA P . HOWARD , 

Los Angeles , Ca£. 


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